SULAIMANI (ESTA) — China’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia fell 21% in May from a year earlier but retained their top ranking among suppliers for a ninth month in a row, customs data showed on Sunday.
Data from the General Administration of Chinese Customs showed shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.2 million tons last month, or 1.69 million barrels per day (bpd), according to Reuters.
They were 6.47 million tons in April and 9.16 million in May 2020, the data showed.
Imports from Russia, the second-largest supplier, also dropped from a month earlier, to 5.44 million tons, or 1.28 million bpd.
The scale-backs by the top two exporters were in line with a steep annual decline of nearly 15% to this year’s lowest total crude imports into China, Reuters reported.
Shipments from OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer Iraq were around 4.5 million tons last month, the data showed.
Imports from United Arab Emirates arrivals fell 25% last month from year-ago levels.
Venezuela oil, however, had slipped into China, passed on as Malaysian bitumen blend after transshipments in Malaysian waters, analysts said.
Imports from the United States reached 1.07 million tons, nearly doubled the level a year earlier.
