BEIJING — China's natural gas output posted faster growth in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The output hit 13.5 billion cubic meters last month, up 10.6 percent year-on-year, compared with an increase of 6.6 percent in August, according to the NBS.

In the first three quarters of the year, 127.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas was produced, up 9.5 percent.

The country imported 71.22 million tons of natural gas during the period, up 10 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, raw coal output rose 4.5 percent year-on-year to 2.74 billion tons in the first nine months. In September alone, 320 million tons of raw coal was produced, up 4.4 percent year-on-year, slower than the 5-percent rise in August, according to the NBS.