BEIJING (Nov 10): China, the world's largest buyer of coal, cut its October imports by 6% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Tuesday, as buyers balked at restocking at high prices.

"Chinese buyers appear reluctant to aggressively restock at current elevated price levels, given comfortable inventory positions and expectations for improving domestic supply," Fitch Ratings senior director Jenny Huang said.

October coal imports were 39.43 million tons, down from 41.74 million tons a year earlier and from 43.37 million tons in the previous month, the data showed.

"Australian thermal coal prices rose above US$150 per metric ton in September and remained elevated in October as re-escalating tensions in the Middle East conflict, Chinese mine closures, strong Asian electricity demand, and uncertainty over Indonesian supply tightened the market," the World Bank said in its October commodity markets outlook.

Expectations for a warmer winter in some parts of China under the influence of El Niño, which would lower coal demand for heating, are also making buyers drag their feet.

Shipments from China's top supplier Indonesia continued to be constrained by low river water levels in key coal-producing areas of Indonesia where the fuel is shipped by barge, Huang said.

In the first 10 months of the year, China's coal imports rose 1% to 392.96 million tons, the data showed, having jumped in June and August after a deadly coal mine accident in May prompted widespread safety inspections and constrained domestic supply.

China's mostly coal-fuelled fossil power generation slipped 1.2% in September, the most recent month for which official data is available, as rising clean energy output cut into coal's share.

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