The arrivals of feedstock at ports in Shandong Province and Tianjin City by independent refineries and traders hit an 18-month low at 7.65 million tonnes in January 2024, a slump of over 20% both month on month and year on year, per OilChem survey of the shipping schedules.
Source: Mysteel OilChem
In detail, the arrivals of crude oil showed a monthly fall of 8% at 6.31 million tonnes primarily due to steeply rising premiums, and the market void was filled up by spot sources in the bonded zone, which was available thanks to the advanced issuance of partial 2024 crude oil import quotas in December 2023, as well as the barreled and seaborne crude oil that did not appeal the consumers in the previous stage.
The arrivals of bitumen mixtures were low as well, which lost nearly 20% MoM at 0.78 million tonnes for a combined causes including insufficient sources, poor refining profits, as well as adequate crude import quotas. And the imports of fuel oil slumped 66.35% MoM at 0.56 million tonnes for similar causes, including crude import quotas and aggravating policy-related risks.
Source: Mysteel OilChem
Looking ahead, it is expected that the feedstock arrivals at ports in Shandong and Tianjin will remain low with independent refineries taking holidays for Chinese New Year, in addition to narrow refining profits.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com