Figures from the General Administration of Customs showed that China imported 5.72 million tonnes of coal in March, up 37.4 percent year on year.

The monthly amount also represented a 11.9 percent rise from February.

Analysts attributed the coal import rise to the recovering domestic demand and lower imported coal price compared with the domestically-produced coal.

China's electricity generation, a key indicator of the economic health, slipped 0.71 percent from a year ago to 286.73 billion kilowatt hours in March. It was slower than the year-on-year 3.7 percent decline in January and February, showing recovery signs, experts said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2009)