BEIJING -- China saw steady growth in its natural gas output in the first two months of the year, according to official data.

The country's natural gas output rose by 13.5 percent year-on-year to 34.8 billion cubic meters in the Jan-Feb period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The figure represented a 22.5-percent growth compared with the level in the same period of 2019, as well as annual average growth of 10.7 percent in the past two years.

Average daily production came in at 590 million cubic meters, down 10 million cubic meters from December last year.

The country's natural gas imports in the first two months increased 17.4 percent year-on-year to 20.8 million tons, according to the NBS.