China's imports of crude oil in May fell to 8%

Economy and stock exchange

China's imports of crude oil fell 8% in May, from an all-time high of the previous month as Beijing, the world's largest importer of crude oil, reduced its imports from Iran as US sanctions tightened, according to customs data. Tehran.

China's imports of crude oil fell to 40.23 million tons in May from 43.73 million tons in April, the General Administration of Customs data showed on Monday.

Reuters calculations show that this is equivalent to 9.47 million barrels per day, down 11 percent from April, a May increase compared to that, due to lower imports from Iran and the closure of a number of large state oil refineries for periodic maintenance.

China began cutting its imports of Iranian crude in May in the face of tougher US sanctions on Tehran's oil sales, and China instead boosted purchases from other suppliers in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil.

But China's oil imports in the first five months of 2019 totaled 205 million tons, up 7.6 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, China's exports of oil products slowed in May to 4.49 million tons, down from 6.17 million tons in April, according to customs data. Exports of oil products in the first five months were 27.09 million tons, up from 25.55 million tons in the same period of 2018.

China's total gas imports, including LNG and imports via pipelines, continued to decline before the summer. Data showed that gas imports reached 7.56 million tons in May, up 3.6 percent from the same month last year but slightly below 7.65 million Ton in April.