China's crude-oil imports from Iran last year were up 30% from 2010, to 27.76 million metric tons, China's General Administration of Customs reported Saturday, January 21. That works out to about 557,000 barrels a day.

China's overall crude imports were up just 6.1%.

Beijing has steadfastly defended its relationship with Iran, the No. 3 supplier of crude to its energy-hungry economy, as the U.S. and Europe try to increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear activities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

China's imports from Iran could decline in the months ahead due to a dispute over commercial issues between China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co., known as Unipec, and National Iranian Oil Co. Unipec has skipped imports of about 220,000 barrels a day from Iran in January and further delays could affect February orders as well.

For December, China's overall crude imports came to to 21.92 million tons, up 5.1% from a year earlier, customs data showed. At 5.18 million barrels a day, that was still short of analysts' estimates of between 5.5 million and 6 million barrels a day.

China's imports from Iran could decline in the months ahead due to a dispute over commercial issues between China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co., known as Unipec, and National Iranian Oil Co. Unipec has skipped imports of about 220,000 barrels a day from Iran in January and further delays could affect February orders as well.

For December, China's overall crude imports came to to 21.92 million tons, up 5.1% from a year earlier, customs data showed. At 5.18 million barrels a day, that was still short of analysts' estimates of between 5.5 million and 6 million barrels a day.