BEIJING: China's crude oil imports in March fell to a five-month low, official data showed on Thursday, dropping to less than 6 million barrels per day (bpd) after three months of high inbound shipments and gains in fuel product inventories.
The crude imports rose 2 percent compared to the same month a year ago as state-oil firms started up larger term contracts with suppliers such as Iraq and Russia to feed new refineries that came online in January.
The world's top energy consumer took in 23.52 million tonnes, or 5.54 million barrels per day (bpd), of oil in March, down 7.8 percent on a daily basis from 6.01 million bpd in February, according to the General Administration of Customs.
China's crude imports had held at more than 6 million bpd over the December-February period, hitting a record high 6.63 million bpd in January. But oil product inventories surged over the same period, indicating real demand was softer.
"Despite a recovery in implied demand in February, product demand in China was softer than expected as inventories built," Barclays analyst Sijin Cheng wrote in a report last week.
"While we expect an improvement in coming months, Chinese demand could face headwinds from uncertainty regarding growth," Cheng said.
China's exports unexpectedly fell for the second straight month in March and overall import growth dropped sharply, intensifying concerns about weak manufacturing and slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.
"We are seeing a further pull-back in oil because China's trade numbers fell short of expectations," said Ben Le Brun, a markets analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney.
"Overall, crude import numbers seem healthy and it shows that oil demand is still there, but oil is just one side of the story," he said.
In the first quarter of this year, crude imports rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 74.72 million tonnes, or 6.06 million bpd, the customs data showed.
Gasoline stocks surged 10.4 percent by the end of February from month ago, while diesel stocks jumped 20.5 percent over the same period as demand fell in the first two months of the year, the official news agency Xinhua has reported.
Higher oil prices last month, with Brent crude futures hitting a two-month high above $112 a barrel on the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, also curbed buyers' appetite.
China's crude intake in March was the lowest since imports dropped to a 13-month low of 4.81 million bpd last October.
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