China's crude imports fell to a four-month low in November; decline in domestic demand

<p>ICYMI – On Friday China's General Administration of Customs showed crude imports fell 10% from October to a four-month low in November.</p><p>The data from China Customs doesn't include China's domestic oil production in November; China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to publish this data this week. </p><p>Via <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/120723-china-data-crude-imports-reach-four-month-low-of-1040-mil-bd-in-november" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">S&amp;P Global </a>on the drop in imports:</p><ul><li>suggested the state-run refineries cut their crude imports as their average utilization rate fell to a five-month low of 81.3% amid slow domestic demand</li><li>In December, Sinopec and PetroChina are more likely to keep their crude imports stable or even reduce them in order to avoid deep inventory loss by year-end amid falling crude oil prices. </li><li>some analysts said they expect the Chinese government to take advantage of the declining crude oil price to build the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). </li></ul><p>More at that link above. </p><p>Oil price update:</p>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.