China, the world fastest growing economy, imported an average of 3.22 million barrels of crude oil per day, total 13.69 million tons in January, to meet its demands. As global crude oil prices hit 19-month low to 50 dollar per barrel.
The 3.5 percent rise in imports from January 2006 shows the China’s growing importance to world markets and now China plan to build up its national strategic oil reserves, which could also increased shipments and helped support resurgent prices.
Global crude oil prices, which affected by the North American weather resulted beneficial to as Chinese temperatures were above normal, which curbed heating demand. But demand rose at the celebrations of Lunar New Year, the country’s most celebrated festival. Business and industries were mostly halted, but the consumptions for the transport and cooking fuel mounted.
Apart from the lower prices in global market, China cuts the import tariffs on oil which resulted to encourage the flow of fuel into China, despite a mid-January cut in the state-set price of gasoline.
Despite global prices fall Beijing didn’t change prices for the much larger diesel market which helped refiners to fill their. Net imports of refined oil products, excluding liquefied petroleum gas, soared 88 percent from the previous month to 1.84 million tons and were up a 10 percent from the previous year.
Via: iht
