SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s total fuel oil imports slipped 11% in the first half of 2024, data showed on Saturday, amid a backdrop of weak refining margins and poor fuel demand.
The imports totalled 11.95 million metric tons, or about 75.88 million barrels, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Chinese refiners typically purchase fuel oil as a refining feedstock, with imports surging to a decade high in 2023 after independent refineries boosted purchases of discounted oil blended from Russian barrels.
Buying has cooled off this year, however, with monthly imports sliding towards the end of the second quarter.
June imports totalled 1.49 million metric tons, 31% lower than May and 45% down from a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data.
Higher crude prices and weaker refined fuel demand have weighed on refining margins and dampened appetite for feedstocks.
The import volumes included purchases under ordinary trade, which are subject to import duty and consumption tax, as well as imports into bonded storage.
Meanwhile, fuel oil export volumes for bunkering totalled 9.05 million tons in the first half of 2024, down 8.3% from the same period in 2023.
The decline in exports emerged despite a global uptrend in marine fuel demand following shipping disruptions in the Red Sea.
The exports are measured mostly by sales from bonded storage for vessels plying international routes.
The tables below show China’s fuel oil exports and imports in metric tons. The exports section largely captures China’s low sulphur oil bunkering sales along its coast.
Exports Bonded storage m/m % y/y %
(2024) trade change change
January 1,674,002 11% 33%
February 1,173,447 -30% -24%
March 1,315,242 12% -32%
April 1,636,457 24% 20%
May 1,660,323 1% -10%
June * 1,586,814 -4% -18%
Imports Ordinary Bonded storage Total m/m % y/y %
(2024) trade trade change change
January 737,451 1,414,318 2,151,769 5% 78%
February 599,867 842,089 1,441,956 -33% -18%
March 727,674 1,250,129 1,977,803 37% -19%
April 725,664 2,207,164 2,932,828 48% 10%
May 592,343 1,561,447 2,153,790 -27% -19%
June * 498,481 991,808 1,490,289 -31% -45%
(Figures are based on latest available data at the time of publishing, and may be subject to revision by China customs at a later date)
(1 metric ton = 6.35 barrels for fuel oil conversion)
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore and Siyi Liu in Beijing; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Tom Hogue)
