CHINA DATA: Sep crude imports gain 6% from Aug amid smoother logistics

Singapore — China's crude oil imports ended their downtrend to gain 5.5% at 11.85 million b/d in September from a four-month low of 11.23 million b/d in August, but the recovery looked temporary amid less new arrivals in October, port sources and refiners said on Oct. 13.

The sources attributed the recovery to smoother logistics in September rather than a rise in actual new arrivals.

"More floating cargoes were discharged last month amid the ongoing congestion than those in August -- when the typhoon and flood season impacted discharging," said a source with Qingdao Port, China's top crude port by turnover.

The independent refining sector received 5.8% more crude barrels in September, at about 4.46 million barrels, than the 4.22 million b/d in August, S&P Global Platts data showed.

The volume of floating crude cargoes in Chinese waters has fallen significantly since the week of Aug. 24-30, when the volume afloat for seven days and more hit a historical high of 98.34 million barrels, data from intelligence firm Kpler showed on Oct. 13.

The figure was down to 53.06 million barrels in the week of Oct. 5-11, Kpler data showed, which also suggested less new arrivals then the previous few weeks.

"As less new arrivals and less floating cargoes in the queue for discharge, crude imports in October will be capped at September level," the port source said.

"We did slow crude purchases for September, October delivery in order to chew inventory first," a China-based refiner said.

The September imports brought China's crude imports at 11.04 million b/d in January-September, jumping 11.7% year on year, showed preliminary data released Oct. 13 by the country's General Administration of Customs, or GAC.

GAC releases data in metric tons, which S&P Global Platts converts to barrels using a 7.33 conversion factor.

On metric tons basis, China imported 48.48 million mt of crude in September, up 2.1% from August.

OIL PRODUCT EXPORTS

Oil product exports, on the other hand, fell unexpectedly back to the 3 million mt territory, at 3.95 million mt in September from 4.27 million mt in August, GAC data showed.

The volume is thought to include exports of gasoline, gasoil, jet fuel and other key oil products.

Market participants had widely expected the country's product exports to rise month on month to ease domestic inventory pressure while overseas demand slightly recovers.

Chinese refineries increased their gasoline and gasoil exports by 33.6% month on month to about 3.3 million mt in September, market sources said.

Meanwhile, China's oil product imports dropped to a 14 month low at 1.86 million mt in September. The previous low was 1.63 million mt in July 2019.

As a result, the country's net oil product exports declined 10.1% from August at 2.09 million mt, and slumped 41% year on year, the GAC data showed.

China's preliminary import, export data (Unit: million mt)

Source: China's General Administration of Customs