In October, China’s crude oil imports were at the lowest level since September 2018 as rising prices hampered purchases by state refiners while independent refiners were hampered by limited import quotas.
According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 37.8 million tonnes of crude last month or 8.9 million bpd. It was significantly slower than the 9.99 million bpd in September and 10.02 million bpd in October 2020.
The 62% jump in crude prices year-to-date on account of the recovering economies post-pandemic spurred fuel demand but also hampered purchases for refiners.
In the first ten months of 2021, crude inflows to China slipped by 7.2% year-on-year to 425.06 million tonnes or 10.21 million bpd.
In October, China’s exports of refined oil products plunged by 31.% year-on-year to 3.95 million tonnes.
Last month, natural gas imports soared by 24.6% year-on-year to 9.38 million tonnes.
Moving onward, China’s crude imports might rise in November as refiners will have to tackle a shortage in diesel and gasoline which has pushed fuel prices higher.
For the remainder of 2021, Beijing has issued 14.89 million tonnes of crude oil import quotas for independent refiners while China's Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), operator of China's single largest refinery, has separately received a quota of 12 million tonnes.
