China's crude oil imports in July fell 18.8% from the previous month to the lowest daily rate since January, customs data showed on Tuesday, as major exporters cut back overseas shipments and domestic stocks continued to build.
Crude shipments into the world's biggest oil importer in July totaled 43.69 million metric tons, or 10.29 million barrels per day (bpd), the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
June's 12.67 million bpd of imports were the second-highest on record.
Still, oil imports were 17% higher than the 8.79 million bpd brought in a year earlier, a period when China's economy was hammered by widespread COVID outbreaks and extensive lockdowns.
The (month-on-month) decline was led by lower imports from the big-3 crude exporters, namely the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia,
Which have cut exports amid reduced production targets and/or higher domestic demand," said Emma Li, a China crude oil analyst at Vortexa in Singapore.
Li noted that China's onshore crude oil inventories were over 1.02 billion barrels at the end of July and the consistent rise in those stockpiles could allow Chinese refiners to slow their purchases in the coming months.
Despite the lower overall imports, state-owned refineries raised their processing rates in July to an average of 78%-82%, up 2-3 percentage points from June, data from consultancy Zhuochuang showed. (Source)
