BEIJING — China saw faster growth in natural gas output last month, according to official data.

The output jumped 14.3 percent year-on-year to 16.1 billion cubic meters in April, expanding 3.1 percentage points from the previous month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Average daily production hit 540 million cubic meters.

In the first four months of this year, the country's natural gas production rose 10.3 percent year-on-year to 64.4 billion cubic meters.

The country's natural gas imports ticked up 1 percent from a year ago to 7.73 million tonnes last month, according to the data.