BEIJING: China’s coal imports rose 3% in August as utilities continued to stock up amid record-breaking hot weather, but rising renewable power generation appears to be slowly dampening the pace of import gains.

August shipments stood at 45.84 million metric tons, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. However, that was down from July’s 46.21 million tons, a seven-month high.

July was China’s hottest month since records began, and heat waves continued to sweep across the country in August. That led to soaring power demand as households and business turned on their air conditioners.

China’s July coal import surge boosts its major suppliers, except Russia

But China’s thermal power generation in July dropped 4.9% from a year ago to 574.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), the third straight month of year-on-year declines because of rising hydropower, wind and solar generation. However, importers continued to take cargoes they had contracted in advance of the summer peak season.

China’s coal imports totalled 342 million tons in the first eight months of the year, up 11.8% on-year, according to the data.