China's coal imports during the first 10 months of the year far outweighed exports because of a steady increase in the country's demand for energy, Sina.com reports.

However, China's coal imports for the first ten months of this year accounted for only 0.05 percent of the country's total coal consumption.

China totally exported 18.9 million tons of coal between January and October, an about 51 percent decrease year on year. But its imports of coal for the same period rose to 97.7 million tons, marking a 172 percent increase over that of last year.