China's first-half 2024 fuel oil imports slide 11% y/y
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 totaled 11.95 metric MMt, or about 75.88 MMbbl, 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 totaled 1.49 metric MMt, 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 totaled 9.05 MMt 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.
Comments