China Customs: China's July crude oil imports rise 14% y/y, WTI looks to $ 53

According to the latest trade report published by China’s General Administration of Customs on Thursday, China's crude oil imports surged 13.9% y/y to 9.7 million b/d in July.

Key Details (via S&P Global Platts):

“The volume in July was 0.3% higher from 9.67 million b/d in June.

The country's crude imports in July totaled 41.04 million mt, the preliminary GAC data showed.

On a metric-ton basis, it was 3.7% lower than the 39.58 million mt in June.

China's total crude oil imports for the first seven months of this year now stands at 285.64 million mt or 9.88 million b/d, up 9.5% from a year ago.

Fuel oil imports, however, fell to a multi-year low of 664,000 mt, reflecting a year-on-year drop of 51.4%.”

The sentiment around the black gold remains underpinned by a broadly weaker US dollar, a potential action by the top oil producers to stall the declines and strengthening Chinese oil demand. WTI is seen extending its bounce towards the $ 53 mark while Brent eye $ 58 level.