Chinese imports of Russian oil and coal continue upward trend in July

Name: Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s left Russia, but their knock-off brands live on
Uploaded: 2022-08-21T12:00:19.000Z
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Description: Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s left Russia, but their knock-off brands live on

Russia is China’s biggest crude supplier for third month in a row, amid uptick in imports of Urals variety shunned by the West after Ukraine war

Record set on Russian coal imports, with further rise likely as China battles a power crunch and new EU ban on goods from Moscow takes effect

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China’s appetite for foreign energy has been weak amid lower demand at home, but discounted Russian commodities have been an exception. Photo: Bloomberg

Ji Siqi

Published: 8:00pm, 21 Aug 2022

China’s energy imports from Russia remained strong in July, despite dwindling domestic demand overall amid rising economic headwinds as the country presses on with its zero-Covid policy.

Moscow remained China’s biggest crude supplier for the third straight month, surpassing Saudi Arabia despite a slight drop in volume from June, as Western countries continued to shun Russian goods over the invasion of Ukraine. China’s monthly imports of Russian coal also set a record.

Russian oil imports – via both sea cargo and pipelines – reached 7.15 million tonnes in July, increasing 7.6 per cent from a year ago, latest data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs show.

Monthly coal imports – including lignite, or brown coal – from Russia also grew 14.4 per cent on-year to a historical high, totalling 7.42 million tonnes in July, according to customs figures.

China’s appetite for foreign energy has been weak in the past few months, as a property market slump and continued Covid-19 lockdowns weigh on the world’s No 2 economy, suppressing domestic fuel demand. But discounted Russian commodities have been an exception.

Overall, Chinese coal imports in July declined by just over 22 per cent year-on- year, while crude oil imports also fell 9.5 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Most Russian seaborne crude oil flowing to China used to be the “ESPO Blend” from its far-eastern Kozmino port. But as its flagship Urals crude is increasingly shunned by European buyers, arrivals at Chinese exports have gone up significantly, an S&P Global report said.

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Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s left Russia, but their knock-off brands live on