BEIJING, June 17 -- China's crude oil output expanded in the first five months of this year, official data showed.

The output totaled 89.1 million tonnes in the January-May period, rising 1.8 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

But the crude oil imports edged down during the period, NBS data showed.

China imported 229.03 million tonnes of crude oil in the first five months, down 0.4 percent year on year.