China’s coal consumption and production in 2014 fell from a year earlier, marking the first decline in 14 years as Beijing tries to pivot the world’s largest energy consumer toward a long-term reduction in coal dependence.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics Thursday show coal output last year fell 2.5% to 3.87 billion metric tons compared with a year ago, while coal consumption fell 2.9% in the period.

China posted a 5.9% rise in crude-oil consumption and an 8.6% rise for natural gas last year. Imports of coal last year fell 10.9% from 2013 to 291.2 million tons, the bureau said.