BEIJING, Mar 18 (Reuters) – China’s gasoline exports in February fell to their lowest level since August 2012, customs data showed on Tuesday, on lower refinery production and slimmer profit margins.
While gasoline exports led the decline, falling 73% on the year to 200,000 metric tons (1.69 million barrels) in February, exports of diesel and aviation fuel also weakened, the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
“China’s gasoline exports in February were limited by lower production — particularly from teapot refiners — and strong domestic demand during the Spring Festival travel season,” said Emma Li, senior market analyst at Vortexa. Independent fuel producers, known as teapots, are mostly located in the Shandong province.
“Weak Asian margins, the export tax effective from January, and tight export quotas also constrained any potential increase in exports.”
For the January-February period, gasoline exports were at 700,000 tons, down 56% on the year. Diesel exports fell 42% on the year to 710,000 tons during the two months and aviation fuel exports slipped 5% on the year to 2,670,000 tons.
Total exports of refined oil products, which included diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel and marine fuel, were down 18% from a year earlier, at 7.21 million tons.
The data also showed that imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell 19% on the year to 10.6 million tons in January-February.
Exports Feb y/y % change YTD y/y % change
Gasoline 200,000 -72.7% 700,000 -55.5%
Jet fuel 1,360,000 -9.6% 2,670,000 -5.4%
Diesel 440,000 -30.0% 710，000 -42.1%
Import Feb y/y % change YTD y/y % change
LNG 4,540,000 -22.9% 10,600,000 -19.1%
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
