BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China's General Administration of Customs Tuesday released export figures for the nation's major industrial products in the first four months of the year.

    According to the administration's website, China sold 1.07 million tons of crude oil abroad between January and April, a decrease of 55 percent on the same period last year. Meanwhile, the nation exported 5.25 million tons of oil products, up 25 percent.

    Customs sources said China's crude oil exports began to climb again in March, to reach 220,000 tons, after dropping to zero in February. In April, crude exports hit 550,000 tons, up 150 percent month-on-month. But the April figure failed to reverse the year-on-year downward trend for the first four months.

    The sources did not elaborate on the factors behind the monthly recovery of oil exports, with government policy discouraging foreign sales of crude and oil products.

    It is reported that China's oil dependency has reached 40 percent. Lacking oil for its fast growing economy, the government started to restrict crude exports in 2004.

    According to the general administration of customs, China exported 15.9 million tons of coal between January and April, a drop of 29 percent on the same period of last year.

    The January-April period also saw approximately 16 billion U.S. dollars worth of yarns, fabrics and textile products exported, up 10.5 percent.

    The export value of clothing and accessories amounted to 28.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 17 percent.

    In the first four months, China's rolled steel exports soared 132 percent to 21.3 million tons and were valued at 13.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 170 percent.

    Foreign sales of machinery and electronics increased by 27.4 percent to 202 billion U.S. dollars, and export value of new- and high-tech products was up 25.1 percent to 101.5 billion dollars.