Follow up – INA
China's energy imports fell sharply in April, after the near-complete halt of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted this vital route for transporting crude oil and natural gas.
Chinese customs data released on Saturday showed that crude oil shipments fell 20% year-on-year to 38.47 million tons, the lowest level since July 2022. Gas imports also declined by about 13% to 8.42 million tons.
The data revealed that oil imports in April were also lower than in the previous month, which included shipments that had begun their journey from the Gulf before the war with Iran on February 28.
It is estimated that the Middle East typically supplies China with about half of its crude oil imports and nearly a third of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
It should be noted that preliminary figures from monthly customs data do not differentiate between LNG transported by sea and gas transported overland via pipelines.
