The October’s imports reflected a 20% decrease from this year's highest level of 19.12 million metric tons recorded in September.
In the first ten months of this year, the country's coal imports amounted to 139.42 million metric tons, 4.4 million metric tons more than in the same period of last year.
Last month, China's coal exports fell 35% year on year to 786,052 metric tons.
Industry analysts estimated that the country's coal imports will reach 170 million metric tons this year, up from 166.24 million metric tons in 2010.