UPDATE 1-Japan July crude oil import volume up 2.0 pct yr/yr

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TOKYO Aug 25 (Reuters) - The volume of Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports rose 2.0 percent in July from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday, marking the second straight month of year-on-year gains.

The year-on-year increase came as hotter-than-usual weather helped increase demand from electric power firms and despite gross domestic product data earlier this month suggesting further weakness in economic recovery in coming months. [ID:nTOE67901S]

Yet the Japanese government has forecast the country's oil product demand would likely fall 4.2 percent in the financial year to next March from 2009/2010 amid a declining population and a shift to overseas manufacturing.

Japan, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, imported 18.058 million kilolitres (3.66 million barrels per day) of crude oil last month, the preliminary data showed.

In June, Japan's crude oil imports were 15.095 million kl.

Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) totalled 5.608 million tonnes last month, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier. Imports of thermal coal for power generation rose 9.5 percent in July to 9.359 million tonnes, the data showed.

Japan's 10 power companies used 11 percent more crude oil and 9 percent more LNG in July than a year earlier to generate electricity, industry data showed earlier this month. [ID:nTKB006985]

The Japan crude cocktail (JCC) price, or the average price for customs-cleared crude oil imports, which is used as the benchmark for LNG prices for Japanese buyers, fell to $76.33 a barrel in July from $79.64 in June. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)