Shanghai's inflation moderated last month as increases in heavily weighted food prices abated.

The city's consumer prices gained two percent in April from a year earlier, a rise that was 0.2 percentage point lower than that in March, the city's statistics bureau said yesterday.

The inflation gauge increased 1.6 percent in the first four months of this year.

Despite a rise of 5.1 percent last month on a yearly basis, food prices dipped 0.9 percent on a monthly basis, the biggest decrease in six months.

The bureau attributed the drop to a sufficient supply of vegetables and fruits.

Service costs, however, accounted for the increase last month, spurred by the coming weeklong May Day holiday. The 1.1-percent growth was 0.3 percentage point higher than a month earlier.

Travel costs surged 4.7 percent from March, as travel agencies raised their prices to cash in on the weeklong holiday, one of the three "Golden Week" vacations the country celebrates.

The city's moderate inflation matched the slow growth of national consumer prices, which climbed three percent in April from a year earlier after rising 3.3 percent in March.

Despite a moderate inflation, "inflationary pressures still exist given the fast economic growth, strong domestic demand and tight food supply," the central bank said in its quarterly monetary policy report.

The Chinese economy expanded a faster-than-expected 11.1 percent in the first quarter from last year, powered by strong investment, consumption and exports.