(Updates with more detail, background throughout)
BEIJING, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Chinese imports of coal from Australia increased 35.2 percent in August from a year earlier, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday, reflecting strong demand as Beijing cuts back inefficient domestic mines.
On Wednesday, benchmark Australian Newcastle coal prices GCLNWCPFBMc1 hit their highest since March last year at $73.60 a tonne, boosted by soaring Asian consumption. had cut back its coal production capacity by 150 million tonnes through August, state media reported this month, as part of a policy to close smaller mines and to shift away from fossil fuels. the mine closures have spurred coal imports this year with Australian coal imports rising to 8.6 million tonnes in August, the customs data showed.
Chinese imports from Mongolia were up 142 percent in August from the year before at 2.37 million tonnes, largely driven by demand for cleaner coking coal to tackle pollution in China's mammoth steel industry.
Shipments of coal from Indonesia reached 3.71 million tonnes in August, up 55.8 percent from a year earlier. The Southeast Asian country's thermal coal benchmark price has been rising since May.
Imports from North Korea rose 35 percent to 2.47 million tonnes, the Chinese data showed. That marked the first year-on-year increase since March.
Thermal coal imports may decline through the rest of 2016 as China's government has allowed large miners to start raising production as prices have increase.