China's total imports of crude oil from Russia, its largest supplier, increased in the first half of this year by five percent, as refineries flocked to low-priced crude, while imports from Saudi Arabia, its second largest supplier, decreased.
Official data showed, on Saturday, that shipments received by China from Saudi Arabia in June declined on an annual basis by 14 percent to 6.82 million tons.
Since the beginning of the year, shipments from the Kingdom have decreased by 13 percent on an annual basis to 40.38 million tons, or the equivalent of 1.62 million barrels per day.
Total imports from Russia, including via pipelines and shipments, in June fell 20 percent year-on-year to 8.43 million tons, or 2.05 million barrels per day, according to data from the General Administration of Customs in China.
This is down from 2.1 million bpd in May, and also a decline from June of 2023 when the all-time high of 2.56 million bpd was recorded.
The decline in imports from Russia in June was partly due to weak demand from independent oil processing enterprises in China, where dwindling margins amid weak domestic fuel demand forced them to reduce their operations to the lowest level since early 2020.
Demand for Russian Urals crude loaded from European ports also decreased, as tension in the Red Sea led to higher shipping prices.
China's total imports of crude oil fell by 11 percent from the record level recorded a year ago, while imports during the first six months recorded a rare annual decline of 2.3 percent, affected by weaker domestic demand than expected at a time when the second largest economy in the world is struggling to recover.
China did not record any imports from Iran or Venezuela last month.
Shipments from the United States fell 60 percent year-on-year to 1.21 million tons in June.
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