China exported 6.01 million tons of refined fuels in August, an annual increase of 12.7%, according to Chinese customs data cited by Reuters today. The total volume exceeded pre-war levels, with jet fuel exports at an all-time high.
The total for the first eight months of the year, however, was down by 9.6% on the same period of 2025, due to the fuel export curbs the government in Beijing imposed earlier in the year in response to the crude oil crunch resulting from the war in the Middle East.
The Chinese government moved to ban all fuel exports in early March, days after the war in the Middle East erupted and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a sudden energy commodity supply crunch. The ban was almost total, with the exception of some volumes shipping out to certain countries in Southeast Asia. Since then, however, China has relaxed the restrictions.
In August, the most marked export volume increase came from diesel. Diesel exports surged by 42.1% last month, to a total of 1.33 million tons amid a global, and increasingly severe, diesel shortage. Diesel fuel exports over the first eight months of the year booked an increase of 5.9%, for a total of 4.84 million tons.
Shipments of jet fuel abroad also rose strongly in August, by 41.4% on the year, to 2.55 million tons. Gasoline exports, on the other hand, declined in August, by 17.5% to 700,000 tons.
Meanwhile, China’s diesel fuel and gasoline inventories are declining, which may eventually lead to the imposition of export curbs, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing recent fuel inventory data.
Gasoline inventories at state-owned energy majors were down by 2.9% last week to their lowest level since 2022, according to Chinese commodity market research firm JLC International. Diesel inventories are sitting at the lowest in 15 months, booking a 2.4% dip last week, the publication noted.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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