BEIJING: China’s exports of gasoil rose by 6.9% month on month to 1.39m tonnes in July, the latest China Customs data showed. On a year-on-year basis, shipments of gasoil were down by 8.8%, the data showed. Chinese refiners have been increasingly seeking to sell their cargoes overseas to ease the domestic supply glut, market sources said. Domestic gasoil supply has been on the rise as refiners raised their gasoil/gasoline output ratio for three months in a row to hit 1.395:1 in July in view of slowdown in gasoline demand growth, while demand for gasoil remained sluggish during the month, they said. About 420,000 tonnes of gasoil were exported under the general trade category in July, a surge of 237.5% month on month, the customs data showed.
The large increase was due to some refiners fulfilling their quarterly export quotas for gasoil under the processing trade category and were exporting more volumes under the general trade category. Around 61.5% of the exports were under processing trade category during the month. The Philippines overtook Singapore as the largest destination of China’s gasoil exports in July, receiving 470,000 tonnes of cargoes from the country, or 34% of its total exports, during the month, the data shows. Hong Kong and Singapore were the second and third largest destinations, taking in 300,000 tonnes and 220,000 tonnes of gasoils from mainland China, respectively.
