BEIJING — China saw robust growth of major bulk commodity imports in the first nine months of this year, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Oct 14.

The country's imports of crude oil climbed 9.7 percent year-on-year to 369 million metric tons during the period. Coal imports increased 9.5 percent year-on-year to 251 million tons, according to the GAC.

A total of 71.22 million tons of natural gas were imported during the period, up 10 percent from one year earlier.

However, iron ore imports during the period declined 2.4 percent to 784 million tons. Soybean imports also went down 7.9 percent year-on-year to 64.51 million tons.

Customs data showed the country's total foreign trade volume rose 2.8 percent year-on-year to 22.91 trillion yuan ($3.23 trillion) in the first three quarters.