BEIJING - China's coking coal imports from Australia fell to the lowest level in at least 15 months as traders reported lengthy checks on Australian cargoes at several ports.

Australian supplies fell 21 percent from a year ago to 1.16 million tonnes last month, the lowest monthly level since at least November 2017, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Monday.

Traders have cut purchases of both thermal and metallurgical coal from Australia as customs official have been carrying out quality checks on Australian supplies that have lasted as long as two months at northern China ports such as Dalian and southern ports like the Fangchenggang.

For the first two months of 2019 combined, numbers showed Australian coal imports rose 27 percent from the same period a year earlier, to 5.49 million tonnes. That reflected a flurry of shipments being accepted in January after being subject to customs clearance delays in December.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu, Meng Meng and Dominique Patton; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) ((muyu.xu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 010 66271298;))