China's crude oil production declined 1.3 percent year on year to 17.03 million tonnes, while crude oil imports rose 0.9 percent to 20.82 million tonnes last month, the country's top economic planner said Saturday.

In the first five months of this year, crude oil production totalled 83.58 million tonnes, down 1.4 percent from the same period last year, while crude oil imports grew 3.5 percent to 109.18 million tonnes, data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) showed.

In May alone, Chinese oil producers refined 34.2 million tonnes of crude oil, down 1.8 percent year on year, but oil product output climbed 1.4 percent to 21.3 million tonnes, said the NDRC.

Meanwhile, the country's apparent consumption of refined oil increased 4 percent to 20.93 million tonnes, among which diesel consumption was up 3.9 percent to 13.22 million tonnes.

China has cut the per-tonne retail prices of gasoline and diesel twice in the past two months in the wake of falling crude oil prices in the global market, as a weak economic outlook for the eurozone and the United States sparked fears of decline in global oil demand.