By Chen Aizhu

SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – China’s April imports increased by nearly 7% compared to the previous year. This was its first increase in three months. However, weakening fuel demands due COVID-19 lockdowns have slowed throughput at Chinese oil refineries.

According to data provided by the General Administration of Customs, 43.03 Million Tonnes of crude oil were imported last month. This is equivalent to approximately 10.5 million barrels per daily (bpd).

Comparable to April 2021’s 9.82 Million bpd and March’s 10.06million bpd, this figure is a significant improvement.

In January and April, imports decreased 4.8% relative to the same time last year. They reached 170.89million tons or approximately 10.4million bpd.

The refinery throughput for the month ended last month was down by about 6%. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not seen a decline in this magnitude.

Sinopec Corp (NYSE:) Corp stated that it has reduced operational rates by about 85% since March 2nd, compared to 92.6% in the previous year. This was after inventory rose due to COVID-19 curbs.

The April exports of refined oil products were 3.82 million tonnes, 44% lower than the previous month and 4.07 millions tonnes in March.

However, exports were higher than expected due to a rush by refiners to lower stock levels in the face of weakening domestic fuel consumption. In April, businesses were previously urged not to sell overseas.

In line with government policies to reduce excess refinery production in the country, fuel exports fell 38% over year for the first 4 months.

Imports in the last month fell to 8.09 Million tonnes from April, when they were 10.15 M tonnes. The January-April period saw imports drop 8.9% to 35.87 millions tonnes, compared with last year.

According to Refinitiv, LNG imports fell sharply from March’s 6.73 million tonnes. This was despite the fact that spot prices continued their downward trend.

1 tonne equals 7.3 barrels of crude oil conversion