China imported 52.06 million tonnes of crude oil in June, an increase of 617,600 t or 1.2% compared with May, and up 45.35% year-on-year (YoY), indicating robust crude trade in 2023 enabled by persistently rising domestic demand, according to the General Administration of Customs (GACC).
Source: GACC
The suppliers to China have been quite consistent, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iraq, UAE, Brazil, Oman, US, Kuwait, and Angola in the order of import volume in June.
Per GACC data, the imports from Russia topped again, with a volume of 10.5 million t that took up 20.17% of China's total imports. The imports jumped 8% MoM and 44.13% YoY. Saudi Arabia secured the second place which supplied 7.92 million t of crude to China, up 56.65% YoY. The imports from Malaysia, though came the third, have been rising constantly and stood at 6.19 million t in June, a palpable growth of 133.07% compared with last year.
However, the imports from countries like Iraq and Angola fell 18.31% and 32.38% MoM respectively in June.
Against the general increase in China's crude imports, the import amount lost 6.99% MoM at $28.1 billion in the month as domestic independent refineries favored low-priced sources to control the cost.
In detail, Russia's ESPO was quite popular among China's state-owned and independent refineries, and the import amount of Russia's crude oil amounted to $5.2 billion, followed by crude from Saudi Arabia that totaled $4.6 billion.
Source: GACC
Generally speaking, China greatly ramped up the imports of crude oil in 2023, which mainly consisted of Russia's crude oil, MAL Blend, fuel oil, and bitumen mixtures. Domestic independent refineries' appetite for imported crude is expected to remain unchanged in the future, and the import volume may rise further.
Writtten by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com
