China raised its imports of key commodities in August amid signs of industrial activity picking up after a summer lull and continued stockpiling of crude oil reserves.
Chinese imports of crude, copper, iron ore, and soybeans increased in August compared to July and, most importantly, compared to the same month last year, according to official customs data published on Monday.
China boosted crude imports last month as refiners exited maintenance and operated at high capacity utilization levels. The overall road fuel demand remains depressed by the advance of electric vehicles—a fact now openly acknowledged by the major state energy firms.
Yet, the aggressive crude stockpiling in China appears to continue. The 49.49 million tons of crude imports, or 11.65 million barrels per day (bpd), rose by 0.8% in August from a year earlier and by 4.9% compared to July this year.
The biggest Asian importers, China and India, took advantage of the weak oil prices to boost purchases for August-arriving cargoes. China, the world’s top crude oil importer, and India, the third largest in the world, can sway the trend in Asian imports with their purchases.
The two major importers remain opportunistic buyers, nominating more crude when prices are low.
Separately, China’s iron ore imports rebounded to above 105 million tons in August, the second month this year import levels have exceeded this threshold, according to Bloomberg.
Chinese imports of copper concentrate surged to the second-highest level on record as the clean energy expansion and smelter activity rebound drove demand higher, per the customs data cited by Bloomberg.
Coal imports also jumped in August, to the highest level so far this year, amid weaker domestic supply. However, coal imports were down by 7% from a year earlier and have trended down so far in 2025 as China boosts domestic output, and inventories are at comfortable levels.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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