China’s crude imports are likely to fall this year year-on-year for the first time since 2013, according to new analysis from Braemar ACM, which has detailed Beijing’s decision this year to draw from existing crude stocks.
Braemar ACM estimates on-shore stocks in China have fallen by some 650,000 barrels per day between April and October.
Analysts at the shipbroking house also point out that in addition to declining Chinese import volumes, hard pressed tanker owners have been hit this year by a near 20% fall in the voyage-length of a crude barrel shipped to China, compared to the distance it travelled in the pre-pandemic year 2019. This was because private refiners had to resort to shorter-haul crudes from the Middle East and the East Asia thanks to delays in crude import quotas and uncertainty around the volumes.
