BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's coal production jumped 11.7 percent to 1.278 billion tons in the first seven months of 2007 from a year earlier, according to the nation's top economic planning agency.

The coal output rose 12.7 percent year-on-year, or 2.9 percentage points higher from June, to hit 196 million tons in July, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced.

During the first seven months this year, the imports of coal soared 49.6 percent year-on-year to 30.96 million tons, while the exports declined 21.2 percent to 28.86 million tons.

Meanwhile, China's output of natural gas climbed 17.1 percent to 38.6 billion cubic meters in the first seven months.

The crude oil production in China, however, rose only 1.1 percent year-on-year to 108.69 million tons between January and July, according to the NDRC.

The output of crude oil slumped 1.7 percent in July from the same month last year.

China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, imported 96.37 million tons of crude oil in the first seven months, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier.