"The Chinese government opened iron ore import rights to private companies during the second half of last year, which also contributed to rising imports," said Zhang. "Compared with the same period last year, there are more importers for iron ore at the beginning of this year."

The growth of iron ore imports exceeded market expectations. In fact, analysts believed China, as the biggest iron ore user in the world, would see imports decline at the beginning of the year.

"China's cut in steel production capacity has not had a big effect on iron ore imports. Meanwhile, the influence of environmental policies on steel mill production and iron ore demand is regional," said Zhang.

Late last year, the Chinese government announced a cut of 80 million metric tons of steel production capacity in order to improve the industrial structure and fight air pollution.

Big steel producers such as those in Hebei province are affected by the policy, but it did not have a nationwide impact, said Zhang.

He predicted that the country's economic growth will continue to decline in the second and third quarters, which will result in slower iron ore imports growth in the following months.

China's crude steel output will grow at 3 percent to 4 percent year-on-year in 2014, estimated analysts at Mysteel.

In addition to iron ore, copper imports in January totaled 536,000 metric tons, a record high with a year-on-year growth of 53 percent. The figure grew 22 percent, compared with the previous month. Analysts said the soaring increase was also caused by unexpected strength in restocking demand ahead of the Lunar New Year.

Generally, China's imports in January increased 10 percent to $175.27 billion, the fastest pace in six months, while exports grew 10.6 percent to $207.13 billion.

The stronger trading growth has eased worries about China's economic slowdown, though most analysts believe that the trade growth in February will experience a slight slowdown.