Beijing — China’s crude oil imports in September grew nearly 14% from a year earlier, as refiners stepped up purchases ahead of the Golden Week travel period and manufacturing indicators improved.
Shipments last month to the world’s biggest oil importer were 45.74 million metric tons, or 11.13 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
The figures for September continue a trend seen through 2023, in which imports significantly exceed 2022 levels, when China’s economy was hammered by widespread pandemic restrictions.
Year-to-date imports gained 14.6% from a year earlier to 424.27 million tons, or 11.34 million bpd.
However, September’s levels eased around 10.5% in bpd terms from August’s figure of 12.4 million bpd, which was the third-highest on record.
“The month-on-month decline in September crude imports is mostly driven by Saudi and Russian volumes, as oil majors cut Saudi nominations and accelerated crude destocking, while teapot refiners continue pivoting away from pricy Russian oil,” said Emma Li, a China oil markets analyst at Vortexa in Singapore.
“China-bound crude loadings in September suggest that the volumes from the top suppliers have rebounded… because crude throughputs remain strong, especially among state-run refiners,” Li added.
The solid imports last month came ahead of an expected increase in demand for transport fuel during the Golden Week holiday, which ran from the end of September through to the first week of October.
Travellers during Golden Week made 826 million trips within mainland China, up 71.3% from a year ago and 4.1% higher than in 2019, according to data released by state media outlet Xinhua.
International travel over Golden Week, while lower than initial government estimates, further drove demand, reaching 85% of pre-pandemic levels.
China’s manufacturing activity also recovered in September, suggesting negative economic sentiment from an underwhelming pandemic recovery may have bottomed out. September manufacturing PMI edged up to 50.2, above the 50-point level demarcating a contraction in activity from expansion.
Last week, Chinese authorities issued a fourth batch of 2023 crude oil import quotas, raising the volume for the year to 203.64 million tons, up 14% on 2022.
Imports of natural gas, including piped and liquefied natural gas, were 10.15 million tons in September, roughly equal to last year, the customs data showed.
Refined fuel exports last month were 5.44 million tons, customs said, down from 5.89 million tons in August and 3.6% below last year.
Regional refining margins DUB-SIN-REF fell from $10.65 per barrel at the start of September to around $6.70 at the end of the month. (ton=7.3 barrels for crude conversion) (Reporting by Andrew Hayley in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger) – Reuters
