China's refined oil exports reached 3.3 million tonnes by shipping schedule in March, a monthly increase of 6.45% from 3.1 million tonnes in February, per OilChem tracking. The March exports consisted of 1.11 million tonnes gasoline, 1.28 million tonnes gasoil, and 0.91 million tonnes kerosene.
The monthly increase was primarily powered by the rising supply and flat demand in China. In detail, the production of gasoline rose 3.4% month on month (MoM) at 13.97 million tonnes in March, gasoil increased 12.52% MoM at 19.08 million tonnes, and kerosene jumped 9.43% MoM at 5.21 million tonnes.
The demand for refined oil, on the other hand, was relatively flat without strong bulls. For gasoline, the consumption returned to normal post the travel peak during the Chinese New Year holiday, but the rising temperature slightly boosted the consumption.
With regard to gasoil, the demand gradually recovered with the outdoor projects resuming work, but the growth was relatively slow restricted by multiple reasons like the environmental protection requirements during the Two Sessions meeting.
Therefore, the refineries still exported refined oil actively though the export profits of #92 gasoline and #0 gasoil narrowed 1.22% and 28.46% respectively MoM and averaged Yuan 567/tonne and Yuan 558/tonne in March due to poor demand in Asia and firm crude prices.
Source: Mysteel OilChem
Looking ahead, the actual refined oil exports will be 3-3.5 million tonnes in April amid flat overseas demand and falling domestic production due to extensive maintenance.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com