BEIJING, Jan 14 (Reuters) - China’s coal imports rebounded in December after dropping for nine consecutive months, as Beijing relaxed import restrictions for some utilities to help meet surging demand for heating during a harsh winter. Coal arrivals were 39.08 million tonnes last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday, up 232.3% from 11.76 million tonnes in November and surging from only 2.77 million tonnes in December a year ago. Increased inflows in December pushed full-year coal purchases to 303.99 million tonnes, the highest level on record, the data showed. (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Kim Coghill)