The feedstock arrivals at ports in Shandong Province and Tianjin City imported by independent refineries and traders totaled approximately 10.02 million tonnes in February, a significant increase of 30% from January, per OilChem tracking of the shipping schedules.
Source: Mysteel OilChem
It is worth noting that the surge in port arrivals was primarily attributed to the stockpiling of traders which were mostly stored in the bonded warehouses, and the demand from independent refineries was still flat amid poor refining profits and low capacity utilization rates.
In detail, the crude arrivals stood at 7.88 million tonnes, rising 29% month on month (MoM). The arrivals of fuel oil nearly doubled, while the bitumen mixtures showed a monthly drop of 14% with the corresponding refining profits in negative zone.
Looking ahead over March, some independent refineries have plans to resume the production, but the capacity utilization rates are expected to be weighed on by the poor refining profits still, potentially restricting the feedstock arrivals.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com