BEIJING — China's raw coal output posted faster growth in March, driven by policies to increase production and supply, official data showed.

The output jumped 14.8 percent year-on-year to 396 million tons last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The growth rate was 4.5 percentage points higher than that of the January-February period, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, coal imports continued to shrink. China imported 16.42 million tons of coal last month, down 39.9 percent year-on-year.

For the first quarter, the country's raw coal output rose 10.3 percent year-on-year to 1.08 billion tons, while imports dropped 24.2 percent to 51.81 million tons.