China's crude oil imports surge in March
By Koh Chin Ling and Loretta Ng Bloomberg News
FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2005
BEIJING Crude oil imports by China, the world's second-largest oil user after the United States, rose 23 percent in March, government figures showed Thursday, damping traders' expectations that a slowdown in Chinese demand would help lower global prices.
[12.25 million tons imported in April, up 22.5 per cent year on year
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China imported 11.5 million metric tons of oil last month, or about 86 million barrels, the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China said. The jump in shipments reversed a 13 percent decline in the first two months of the year.
The jump in March imports and China's unexpected 9.5 percent first-quarter economic growth rate, however, indicated its oil purchases would continue to rise, refiners said.
"Demand for oil hasn't stopped rising and oil processing growth remains strong," said Tian Chunrong, a senior engineer at China Petroleum & Chemical, or Sinopec.
"Oil imports should rise over the full year." Imports accounted for 49 percent of China's oil and fuel consumption last year, a figure that may rise to 52 percent this year, Sinopec said on April 14.
China's gross domestic product rose to 3.14 trillion yuan, or $379 billion, in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics announced in Beijing on Wednesday. That increase matched the pace of growth in the fourth quarter and exceeded the median 9 percent increase forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
China spent $3.7 billion to import oil in March, an increase of 63 percent from a year earlier, the customs agency said. Oil import costs in the first three months of the year rose 28 percent to $9.1 billion.
"China's imports picked up quickly in March because demand is still strong," said Agnes Deng, a fund manager at Standard Life Investments in Hong Kong. "This was possibly also helped by some month-over-month inventory adjustments. Growth will continue, with more refineries and petrochemical plants starting to operate this year."
Fuel-oil imports declined 1.9 percent in March to 2.3 million tons, but rose 9.7 percent in the first three months of the year to 6.95 million tons.
China's oil exports rose 39.1 percent in March to 714,856 tons, but fell 22.2 percent to 1.3 million tons in the first quarter, customs said.
The International Energy Agency on April 12 lowered its forecast for world oil demand for the first time in four months, citing slowing consumption growth in China among other factors.
Chinese consumption was "unlikely" to match the rate of increases seen in the first half of last year, the Paris-based IEA, an adviser to 26 industrialized nations, said.
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