Brent has hit a six-and-a-half month low of $48.3 a barrel at the start of the week, and WTI a five-month low of $43.4 a barrel. Poor Chinese economic data are hitting prices (see also base metals, p.2). Healthy oil imports cannot make up for this downturn. In July, China imported a record volume of 30.71 million tons of crude oil, corresponding to 7.3 million barrels per day, which is only just short of the April record, notes Commerzbank. The country evidently took advantage in July of much lower oil prices to rebuild its stocks. They had fallen to a one-year low in June on account of record oil processing, so a top-up was needed. In the first seven months of the year, China’s crude oil imports were up more than 10% on the year-ago period. Despite all the dire predictions, Chinese demand for oil remains buoyant. There would have to be a response on the supply side for the surplus to disappear, but it still hasn’t happened, says Commerzbank.
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