China's May crude imports slumped 29 per cent to their lowest levels in eight years, extending a sharp decline in the world's largest oil importer that is helping keep a lid on global oil prices.
Imports dropped to 33.08 million tonnes, or 7.79 million barrels per day, the lowest level since February 2018, customs data showed on Tuesday.
In April, imports fell to a multi-year low of 9.3 million bpd, with Chinese refiners drawing on reserves last month to offset an even steeper decline from an average of 11 million bpd prior to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Lower Chinese imports are freeing up oil for other buyers and, alongside higher US production, helping ease shortages caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure.
The abrupt drop is pressuring refiners, who are paying more for crude but are mostly shut out of lucrative export markets by China's fuel export controls, with prices capped at home.
China could sustain oil imports around the seven-million-bpd level over the next three months, according to ship-tracking firm Vortexa.
The firm estimated imports in May from Russia and Iran fell 14 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, to two million barrels per day and 1.37 million barrels per day.
Bucking the trend, natural gas imports rose month-on-month to 10.11 million tonnes, putting imports on par with last year's levels as Chinese buyers return to liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.
The data does not separate LNG from gas piped overland.
Refined fuel exports edged higher in May to 3.37 million tonnes, from 3.1 million tonnes in March, although shipments remain well below pre-war levels.
Beijing is tightly controlling shipments via quotas to keep its domestic market supplied, but it recently allowed some refiners to reduce output, in a sign that officials are less concerned about shortages.
(Reporting by Sam Li and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
