China imported 220 million metric tons of coal in the first ten months of this year, up 33.5 percent year-on-year, according to customs figures.

The average price of imported coal was $103.30 a ton in that period, down 2.9 percent year-on-year.

Analysts said the increase in imports resulted in part from the price of foreign coal being higher than domestic coal.

"The global economy is gloomy and that has affected China,” Guan Dali, an analyst at the Chinese security firm Zhongyu, was quoted as saying by the China Business News.

"Meanwhile, an increase in clean-energy consumption in the United States and Europe has reduced the demand for coal, which caused international coal prices to drop.”