Chinese customs reported that the imports they also suffered a contractionwith a variation of -7.5% year-on-year to December.
The second largest economy in the world still suffering the impact of its years of zero Covid-19 policy, that hit businesses and supply chains and affected consumption.
China began to lift most of its strict sanitary measures in December and has since seen an uptick massive contagion from covid-19. In addition, the threat of a recession in the United States and Europe, combined with rising energy prices, contributed to weakening global demand for Chinese products.
The Drop in exports in December marked the second consecutive month of negative figuresafter registering -8.7% year-on-year in November.
The imports also had their second month of declineafter registering -10.6% in November.
oil imports
In the same way, Chinese oil imports fell for the second consecutive year in 2022despite the rebound in the fourth quarter.
The imports for the whole year of the world’s first buyer amounted to 508.28 million tonsequivalent to 10.17 million barrels per day, 0.9% less than in 2021according to data from the General Customs Administration.
It followed the fall of 2021which meant the first annual decline of China’s oil imports in two decades. In 2020, the imports they reached the number record of 10.8 million bpd.
Imports slowed for most of the year as refiners faced declining margins and a slack fuel demandbut they began to rebound in octoberwhen Beijing decided to support the sector by drastically boosting fuel exports.
In Decemberthe refineries received 4% more crude than a year earlier, 48.07 million tons or some 11.3 million bpd, the third highest figure for 2022, as state refiners bought Saudi crude at lower official prices and the independents rushed to use the assigned quotas.
Data on Friday also showed that fuel exports -including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and marine fuel oil- reached 7.7 million tons in December, the highest figure since April 2020 and above the 6.14 million tons of November.
Annual fuel exportsNevertheless, they remained 11% below 2021, at 53.69 million tons, due to sharp reductions in overseas shipments in early 2022, as the government then tried to rein in excess domestic processing.
Last month, natural gas imports by pipeline and in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached the 10.28 million tons, 12% less than in the same period in 2021. Annual imports fell 9.9% to 109.25 million tons, according to the data.
soybean imports
China’s soybean imports increased 19% in December against the same month 2021, customs data showed on Friday, as buyers stocked up on grain for alleviate supply shortages in it main importer of oilseeds in the world.
China imported 10.56 million tons of soybeans in December, the highest level in a month since June 2021, after several months of lower than expected arrivals brought by the soybean meal prices at record levels.
Nevertheless, imports for all of 2022 fell by 5.6% compared to 2021, a 91.08 million tonswhich marks the second annual declineshowed the data of the General Administration of Customs.
Last year was turbulent for trade with the rising world prices and logistics problems that slowed down imports from China.
Source: Ambito
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