China’s total fuel oil imports slipped 11 per cent in the first half of 2024, data showed on Saturday, amid a backdrop of weak refining margins and poor fuel demand.
The imports totalled 11.95 million metric tonnes, or about 75.88 million barrels, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Chinese refiners typically purchase fuel oil as a refining feedstock, with imports surging to a decade high in 2023 after independent refineries boosted purchases of discounted oil blended from Russian barrels.
Buying has cooled off this year, however, with monthly imports sliding towards the end of the second quarter. June imports totalled 1.49 million metric tonnes, 31 per cent lower than May and 45 per cent down from a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data.
Higher crude prices and weaker refined fuel demand have weighed on refining margins and dampened appetite for feedstocks. The import volumes included purchases under ordinary trade, which are subject to import duty and consumption tax, as well as imports into bonded storage.
Meanwhile, fuel oil export volumes for bunkering totalled 9.05 million tonnes in the first half of 2024, down 8.3 per cent from the same period in 2023.
The decline in exports emerged despite a global uptrend in marine fuel demand following shipping disruptions in the Red Sea. The exports are measured mostly by sales from bonded storage for vessels plying international routes