China imports significantly less crude oil in August

China imported considerably less crude oil in August. The 6.3 million barrels per day reported by the customs authorities correspond to a 13% month-on-month decline. 

That said, crude oil imports achieved close to a record high in July, which goes some way to explaining the decrease in August. Oil imports in the first eight months of the year were still almost 10% higher than in the same period last year. 

The ICE data on market positioning published yesterday are puzzling, although the Brent price soared by 25% in the last three days of August, speculative net long positions remained largely unchanged at 145,000 contracts in the week to 1 September. Both long and short positions were reduced slightly, says Commerzbank.