China To Cut Clean Oil Products Exports In Feb

China’s refineries will reduce clean oil product exports in February as domestic demand in January was better than expected, market sources told S&P Commodity Insights.

• China’s gasoline, gasoil and jet fuel exports are estimated at 3.9mn t this month, down from previous estimates of 4.3mn t.
• Among the products, most of the reduction in exports is expected to be for gasoline, the yield for which declined to a multi-month low in January amid a stronger-than-expected demand rebound during the Lunar New Year.
• Some refiners had reduced gasoline exports as they were unable to boost throughput due to limited feedstock availability, sources said.
• China's gasoline product yield dropped to a 30-month low of 19.2% in December 2022, with the output at 11.51mn t while exports stood at a 26-month high of 1.91mn t, official data showed. This resulted in limited inventory in January when demand rebounded.
• A resurgence in tourism was seen across China over the holiday period, raising transportation fuel demand. A total 308mn domestic trips were made during the Lunar New Year holiday, a 23.1% year-on-year rise to 88.6% of the levels seen in 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.