The exports, measured mostly by sales from bonded storage for vessels plying international routes, totalled 1.95 million tonnes.
Exports of marine fuel for the January-March quarter fell 7% to 4.74 million tonnes.
Bunkering demand at Chinese ports eased in the quarter, in line with sentiment at other bunker hubs including Singapore and Fujairah. Prices of delivered marine fuel at the key Chinese bunker port of Zhoushan in March were similar to prices at Singapore, according to trade sources.
Meanwhile, total fuel oil imports in March more than doubled from a year earlier to 2.43 million tonnes.
Chinese independent refineries continued to seek fuel oil as an alternative feedstock to crude oil, industry sources said. Imports into bonded storage, which includes both high-sulphur and low-sulphur materials, stood at 1.68 million tonnes.
The table below shows China's fuel oil imports and exports in metric tonnes. The exports section largely captures China's low-sulphur oil bunkering sales along its coast.
Exports Bonded storage m/m % y/y % (2023) trade change change January 1,254,080 11% -46% February 1,535,577 22% 17% March 1,953,559 27% 38%
Imports Ordinary Bonded Total m/m % y/y %
(2023) trade storage change change
trade
January 569,376 640,022 1,209,399 -31% 47%
February 424,254 1,331,623 1,755,877 45% 103%
March 752,172 1,680,788 2,432,960 39% 149%
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; editing by Jason Neely)
