China is the world’s biggest crude oil importer and top buyer of copper, coal, iron ore and soybeans. China’s imports of major commodities including iron ore, copper, oil and soybeans rose in September from a month earlier. Coal imports eased.

KEY POINTS:

*Crude oil: Imports of 48.48 mln T vs 47.48 mln T in July

*Iron ore: Imports of 108.55 mln T vs 100.36 mln T in July

*Soybeans: Imports of 9.79 mln T vs 9.60 mln T in July

*Copper: Imports of 722,450 T vs 668,486 T in July

*Coal: Imports of 18.68 mln T vs 20.66 mln T in July

“As the impact from typhoon gradually subsided from seond-half of September, discharging and clearance of inbound crude cargoes picked up pace. Port operations should continue at high capacity in the near-term. This coupled with reduced inbound flows of fresh cargoes should further draw down floating storage in the coming weeks.” - CHEN JIYAO, HEAD OF CHINA CLIENT ADVISORY, FGE

“Independents (teapots and mega private petchem refineries) remained the main drivers of China’s crude imports in September. In contrast to strong imports growth in the second and third quarters, China’s crude imports growth is likely to be muted in 4Q20 due to historical high crude inventories and a higher import base recorded in 4Q19.” - SENG YICK TEE, SENIOR DIRECTOR, SIA ENERGY