Latest customs data from China shows import and export numbers
Russia and Iraq have been seeing increased business from China for oil. In July oil imports from Iraq rose 18.2% while imports from Saudi Arabia fell 4.2%. Imports from Russia fell for the first time this year but remain +27.3% YTD. Iraq's YTD stands at 10.8%, and the Saudi's are -0.4%. Angola tops the list as China's largest supplier with 4719mt shipped in July. The Saudi's are second at 4025mt.
Oil imports overall were 1.2% vs 3.8% prior y/y but apparent demand fell 0.2% to 10.13mbpd vs -0.7% in June.
The Chinese are helping out their pal Putin while the EU sanctions are still ongoing, and Iraq's discounting seems to be doing the job, not that the previous sanctions were stopping sales to China anyway.
The demand figures are probably more of a worry as coming from one of the worlds largest importers, it makes a mockery of the Saudi's line that they expect demand to increase to help balance the market.
Details of other commodities were released also;
China metals imports
There's a lot of negative numbers there which will keep the pressure on commodity countries and their currencies. It looks like commod FX has taken a dip on this news. AUDUSD is lower and USDCAD is higher. Oil prices sit on their lows also.
