China’s crude oil imports in June jumped 45.3% on the year, customs data showed on Thursday, with refiners building up inventories despite tepid domestic demand.

Crude imports in June totalled 52.06 million metric tons, or 12.67 million barrels per day (bpd), the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

This represents the second highest monthly figure on record, and a substantial increase on the 8.72 million bpd imported in June last year, when the economy was battered by widespread COVID-19 lockdowns.

Crude imports also held their upward momentum on a month-on- month basis, up 4.58% from May’s 12.11 million bpd.

Total imports for the first half were 282.1 million tons, up 11.7% from the 252.52 million of the corresponding period last year.

Teapot refiners in the eastern province of Shandong have stepped up runs as authorities lifted curbs on the import of diluted bitumen, helping to ease inventory pressure at its ports.

More broadly, however, inventories continue to rise against an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. Commodities consultancy Vortexa estimated onshore crude inventories at 980 million barrels at the end of June, just 20 million barrels below an all-time record in August 2020.

While kerosene demand is up strongly on the year, boosted by a resumption in flights after the removal of curbs on travel, weakness in the manufacturing and property sectors has hurt demand for diesel, despite stimulus measures by the government.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Andrew Hayley; Editing by Himani Sarkar & Shri Navaratnam)