Singapore (Platts)--7Sep2014/1150 pm EDT/350 GMT

China's crude oil imports in August recovered to 25.19 million mt or an average 5.96 million b/d, surging 17.5% year on year, according to preliminary data released Monday, September 8, by the country's General Administration of Customs.

The volume was 6% higher than the July volume of 5.62 million b/d, which had been the first year-on-year contraction in crude imports since October 2013.

China resumed crude exports last month after a five-month hiatus since March, shipping out 110,000 mt, although this was a 47.6% slide from August 2013.

This brought the country's net crude imports in August to 25.08 million mt, or 5.93 million b/d, up 18.2% year on year.

Over January-August, China's total crude imports rose 8.4% year on year to 200.92 million mt or an average 6.06 million b/d, according to the data.

Year-to-date crude exports plunged 71.2% year on year to 360,000 mt, bringing net crude imports to 200.56 million mt, which was an 8.9% increase from a year earlier.

China's oil product imports slipped 1.6% year on year to 2.53 million mt in August, while oil product outflows rose 9.6% year on year to 2.73 million mt. This means China was again a net exporter of oil products last month, for the fourth time this year.

China had rarely been a net oil product exporter before this year but weak demand growth and ample production from domestic refineries have resulted in declining imports and relatively higher exports of oil products.

From January to August, China's total oil product imports slumped 28.3% year on year to 19.65 million mt, while oil product exports dipped 0.5% year on year to 19.12 million mt, the data also showed.

--Song Yen Ling, yenling.song@platts.com
--Edited by Meghan Gordon, meghan.gordon@platts.com

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