Arrivals from Russia surged 36.3 percent from 2016 to 25.3 million tonnes, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, with December figures at 2.14 million tonnes, up 16.2 percent from a year ago and 11.5 percent from November.

Shipments from Mongolia rose to 33.58 million tonnes in 2017, up 27.6 percent from 2016, while December's imports came in at 2.83 million tonnes, down 18.6 percent from a year ago but up 2.5 percent from November.

Coal imports in 2017 from Australia rose 13.4 percent from 2016 to 79.91 million tonnes. In December, China bought 8.07 million tonnes of coal from Australia, up 19.4 percent from a year ago.

Arrivals from Indonesia in 2017 fell 9.7 percent from 2016 to 35.28 million tonnes. December imports of 1.71 million tonnes were down 63.1 percent from same period in 2016.