China's oil imports posted double-digit growth in the first five months of 2008 as global crude prices more than doubled from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said Wednesday.

The country imported 75.97 million tons of crude oil, up 12.7 percent from a year earlier, with average prices rising 64.1 percent to 689.9 U.S. dollars per ton.

Imports of oil products jumped 17.3 percent to 17.34 million tons. Prices soared 66.9 percent to average 709.6 U.S. dollars per ton.

Analysts said booming domestic demand, notably from the severe winter and quake reconstruction, fueled imports.

Crude oil exports totaled 950,000 tons, valued at 570 million U.S. dollars, while exports of refined oil stood at 6.48 million tons worth 4.85 billion U.S. dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2008)