BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's raw coal output registered stable growth in 2018 amid government efforts to cut outdated capacity and encourage high-quality capacity, official data showed Monday.

China produced 3.55 billion tonnes of raw coal last year, up 5.2 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

The growth pace was 2 percentage points faster than that in 2017, the NBS said.

In December, China's raw coal output totalled 320 million tonnes, up 2.1 percent year on year.