China’s freshly-released headline import data for June show total crude imports of 8.75mn b/d, the lowest monthly figure since July 2018. Average 1H import volumes of 10.21mn b/d are down 3.4% year-on-year.
Despite the low overall June imports, figures from data intelligence firm Kpler show seaborne arrivals of Russian crude rising for the fourth successive month to 1.21mn b/d, the second highest figure on record after June 2020 when a short-lived market share battle saw both Russia and Saudi Arabia export record volumes. (CONTINUED - 293 WORDS)