China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.8 percent in April over the same period of last year, or anincrease of 0.5 percent over March, the National Statistics Bureau(NSB) said Friday.

In a monthly report released Friday, the bureau said the CPI for urban areas jumped 3.2 percent, while the figure was up 4.9 percent in rural areas.

Prices of consumer goods up by 4.3 percent, and prices of services climbed by 2.1 percent, it said.

Food prices were up by 10.2 percent while non-food consumer goods went up by 0.5 percent.

Cereal prices jumped by 33.9 percent in April over the same period of last year, prices of cooking oil rose 26.7 percent and prices of fresh eggs were up 23.4 percent, according to the report.

Charges for medical and health care were up 6.6 percent, pricesof housing construction and decoration material rose 4.4 percent, and water, electricity and fuel prices increased by 4.9 percent.

Prices of durable consumer goods were down by 3.2 percent, prices of auto vehicles went down by 3.2 percent and prices of telecommunications goods dropped by 15.2 percent.