BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - China's June crude imports slumped 41.3% to their lowest in almost a decade as refinery run rates hit a ten-year low due to weak domestic demand and export curbs on refined oil products to safeguard energy security amid the Iran war.
China imported 29.27 million tons of crude oil in June, or 7.12 million barrels per day, the lowest since October 2016, customs data showed on Tuesday.
The slump extended into June from May, with imports falling by another 12%, after oil imports hit an eight-year low in May.
China's seaborne crude imports stood at around 6 million bpd in June, with imports from the Middle East hitting their lowest level in ten years and Iranian oil imports also dropping 40% month on month to below 800 thousand barrels per day, according to ship-tracking company Vortexa.
In June, the utilisation rate of China's crude distillation units stood at 57.72%, down 3.28 percentage points month on month and down 13.09 percentage points year on year, according to Chinese consultancy Oilchem.
"Refinery run rates were likely near a 10-year low, weighed down by weak domestic demand and refined oil product export restrictions. But if refined product exports are eased, run rates could see a partial rebound," said Emma Li, analyst at Vortexa.
Lower Chinese imports are freeing up oil for other buyers, while the market is also weighing the permanent loss of demand from China, as the steep drop in fuel consumption after oil prices soared suggests China can live on less oil due to its massive EV fleet.
Customs data also showed natural gas imports rose 3.7% year on year to 10.9 million tons in June.
However, natural gas imports in the first half of 2026 dropped 3.4% to 57.45 million tons from the same period last year.
The data does not separate LNG from gas piped overland.
China's refined oil product exports stood at 4.36 million tons in June.
In the first six months, China exported 23.59 million tons of refined oil products, down 13.2% year-on-year due to export restrictions imposed in March to safeguard domestic supply amid the Iran war.
(1 ton = 7.3 barrels of crude oil)
Reporting by Sam Li and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Sonali Paul
Source: Reuters