BEIJING — China's crude oil output rose 3 percent year-on-year to 16.83 million metric tons in October, official data showed.

The volume went up 4.5 percent from the 2019 level, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the first 10 months, the country's crude oil output came in at 166.19 million metric tons, up 2.5 percent year-on-year, the NBS said.

As one of the world's largest oil buyers, China imported 37.8 million tons of crude oil last month, down 11.2 percent from a year earlier.

During the January-October period, crude oil imports fell 7.2 percent year-on-year to 425.06 million tons, NBS data showed.