China has issued a third batch of crude import quotas for independent refiners in 2020. With the recent issue, the amount of quotas awarded this year is 10% higher than last year’s allowance. The latest quotas amount to 26.84 million tons (196 million bpd), bringing the total import quota of 2020 to 1.35 billion barrels (3.68 million bpd). For comparison, The commerce ministry (MoC) awarded a total of 3.33 million bpd of import quotas in 2019.
In this batch, the MoC awarded quotas to 17 firms. ZPC and Hengli Petrochemical received awards of 17.5 million barrels and 14.6 million barrels, respectively. These quotas are well below the quotas awarded in the first two batches. ZPC and Hengli’s quotas now stand at 146 million barrels each. Shandong-based Tianhong was granted a quota of 16.1 million barrels after receiving no allowance in the second round.
Eligible firms now almost use up all of the Import quotas awarded in the first two batches. However, buying appetite by Shandong independent refiners has been dented by congestion at ports in the province and weaker downstream demand. It remains unclear whether the MoC will issue any more quotas this year.
