According to the data complied by China's customs, in January to May of current year, China's overall coal imports reached 56.88 million t, declining by 12.1 million t as compared to 68.98 million t in the same period of last year. While in May alone China's coal imports totaled 13.4 million t, rising by 2.4 million t as compared to 11 million t in the last year and by 20.72% on a month comparison basis. This was also the third consecutive month increase since February when China's coal imports had shrunk into 6.76 million t.