According to data from the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC), China's exports of refined oil, namely gasoline, gasoil, and kerosene, reported 3.18 million tonnes in April, down 7.29% month on month and up 15.54% from the same period last year.
Source: GACC
The monthly fall was primarily contributed by gasoline and gasoil, with the April exports dropping 16.43% and 31.81% respectively MoM at 0.78 million tonnes and 0.51 million tonnes amidst negative export margins. OilChem's data showed that the export margins of gasoline and gasoil averaged Yuan -458/tonne and Yuan -238/tonne in April FOB South China, which were even winder than that in March.
Source: Mysteel OilChem
More importantly, April saw relatively intensive outages among state-owned refineries, which prioritized domestic supply in the face of upcoming travel peak during the Labor Day holiday as well as solid gasoil demand support from engineering projects and logistics services.
Looking ahead, China's refined oil exports are planned at 3.16 million tonnes in May. Should the export target be fulfilled, the year-to-date exports will equal to 43.55% of the first two batches of refined oil export quotas at 31.80 million tonnes.
In addition, though the export margins are still in the negative, it has been narrowing since entering May due to more rapidly falling domestic gasoline and gasoil prices compared with the Singapore market.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com
