China cuts gasoline, gasoil exports in Feb
China’s gasoline exports in February fell to a three-year low, a sharper decline than analysts had expected, latest data from General Administration of Customs showed.
Exports to Singapore, the traditional top destination for China’s gasoline, sank 66.5% from 1.14 million mt in January, to just 383,000 mt last month. It was also down 38.5% year on year.
The February gasoline exports were well below market expectations. Two Beijing-based analysts and two traders in Singapore had earlier said they expected exports to be around the normal level of 1 million mt in the month.
China’s exports to Malaysia also dropped 69.6% month on month to 530,000 mt in February.
Asian trading hubs of Singapore and Malaysia remained the top destinations for Chinese gasoline — both took 84.6% of the total outflows from China amounting to 1.75 million mt, up from 75% over January-February 2018.
Oil products from Asian countries are usually sent to the hubs for blending or trading before heading to end-users.
Exports in February to all other Asian destinations except Vietnam fell drastically from January.
The only increase outside Asia was to Australia, with 24,000 mt exported in February, compared with zero in January and a year earlier.
The lower realized export total for the month could be due to the methodology used by GAC, one Singapore-based trader said.
Monthly exports were last lower at 426,000 mt in October 2015.
GASOIL
China’s gasoil exports to African continues to grow in 2019, despite the drop in overall volume in February.
Exports to Mozambique totaled 185,000 mt over January-February from zero a year earlier, to be the sixth top destinations for China’s gasoil export.
Mozambique, for the second time, has remained in the top 10 destinations in February, receiving 39,000 mt of gasoil. This compared with zero in February 2018, but was down 73.4% from January at 147,000 mt.
Meanwhile, exports from China to Hong Kong were up 76.9% year on year to 272,000 mt, though down 11.6% from January.
Total exports to Hong Kong over the first two months, rose 91.9% from a year earlier to 580,000 mt, making it the top second destination after Singapore.
The continuous boost in exports to Hong Kong comes after China imposed a 0.5% bunker fuel sulfur limit from January 1 along its entire coastline for all vessels sailing within 12 nautical miles of the coast as well as when berthing.
Besides Singapore and Hong Kong, Bangladesh was the top third destination for China’s gasoil export, taking 180,000 mt last month.
It doubled from a year earlier, and also up 182.8% from January.
Exports to the Netherlands in the European trading hub also grew to the highest level ever seen at around 131,000 mt in February, from around zero in January and a year earlier.
Source: Platts