BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) - China's coal imports rose in April, customs data showed on Thursday, as power generators boosted their buying to raise their stockpiles ahead of the peak summer demand season.
Shipments of coal into China, the world's largest consumer of the fuel, were 45.25 million metric tons last month, up 11% from 40.68 million tons a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs data showed.
That was up by 9.4% from March and 2 million tons less than December's record of 47.3 million tons.
"We have entered a stocking period ahead of the summer peak," Xu Dongkun, an analyst with industry group the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association, said on Wednesday.
The Northern Hemisphere summer months are typically a high demand period for power generation in China to meet air conditioning consumption.
Chinese imports of coking coal for the steel industry were also likely higher because of tighter domestic supply of the fuel, said a China-based trader who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
China's coal imports in the first four months of 2024 were 161.15 million tons, up 13% year-on-year, the data showed.
China's main coal suppliers are Indonesia, Russia, Mongolia and Australia. (Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
