Chinese Gasoline Imports Hit 10-Year High In August - Economic Times

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BEIJING: Amid an auto boom, China's gasoline imports hit a ten-year high in August after the country's economic planner ordered state-owned oil firms to make up shortfalls in supply.

Imports reached 45,000 tonnes last month, up 7,896 per cent from August last year. Meanwhile, exports shrank to 257,000 tonnes, down 18.3 per cent from August last year and down from 330,000 tonnes in July and 526,000 tonnes in June.

China has been a key gasoline exporter in Asia with small amounts of imports. It imported only 13.6 tonnes of gasoline in July. Tian Chunrong, an analyst with the China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), China's largest oil refiner, said the government order for a guaranteed domestic gasoline supply was the major reason for both the sharp rise in imports and the drastic drop in exports.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, in early August asked the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Sinopec Group, the two state-owed oil giants, to increase oil refining volume and reducing exports of refined oil products to ensure the domestic supply.

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