BEIJING: China’s crude oil imports in August fell 7% year-on-year, customs data showed on Tuesday, as weak refining margins and low fuel consumption continued to weigh on demand, though shipments recovered somewhat from the lows of recent months.
Last month’s imports stood at 49.10 million metric tons, according to the General Administration of Customs. That was however up from 42.34 million tons in July, the lowest level since September 2022.
Daily crude oil imports last month were also the highest since August a year earlier, according to Reuters’ records of customs data.
Last week, Asian refining margins fell to their lowest level since 2020 as the peak summer travel season ended and inventories rose.
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China’s annual demand growth has slowed from around 500,000-600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic to 200,000 bpd now, Goldman Sachs oil research head Daan Struyven told the APPEC conference in Singapore on Monday.
Imports for the January-August period fell 3.1% on the year to 367 million tons, the data showed.
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