BEIJING — China's natural gas output maintained a steady increase last month, official data showed.

The output of natural gas in the country amounted to 17 billion cubic meters in August, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

In the first eight months, China reported 143.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas production, an increase of 5.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The country imported 71.05 million tons of natural gas in the January-August period, down 10.2 percent year-on-year, the data showed.