Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- China imported 16 percent more crude oil in the first nine months of 2006 than a year earlier to meet rising energy demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Imports climbed to 109.25 million metric tons (about 2.9 million barrels a day), the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China said on its Web site today. Imports in September were 13.46 million tons, it said.

China's 2006 oil demand may rise 6.4 percent to 7 million barrels a day, the International Energy Agency forecast yesterday. China wants to increase oil processing capacity 25 percent by 2010 to satisfy growing consumption of motor fuels and chemical raw materials.

The oil import bill for the world's second-largest consumer of the fuel increased 50 percent to $51.3 billion in the nine months, customs said. The cost of importing oil in September was $6.8 billion.

Refined oil-product imports increased 26 percent to 29.2 million tons from January through September and stood at 3.43 million tons last month, customs said. The cost of importing fuels in the first nine months rose 73 percent to $12.4 billion and the bill for September was $1.47 billion.

China's oil exports fell 22 percent to 4.27 million tons in the first nine months, and oil-product sales overseas declined 21 percent to 9.11 million tons, customs said.

Coal exports from January through September fell 12 percent to 48.1 million tons, customs data showed. Coke exports rose 9.3 percent to 10.7 million tons over the nine-month period, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Wing-Gar Cheng in Beijing at wgcheng@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 11, 2006 20:53 EDT