China’s crude oil imports from its biggest supplier, Russia, were 10.07 million tons in March, or 2.37 million barrels per day, up 14% year-on-year, according to customs data published on Saturday.
* Imports from Brazil surged 154% to 5.03 million tons in March, or 1.18 million barrels per day.
* Imports from China’s second-biggest supplier, Saudi Arabia, were 5.86 million tons in March, or 1.38 million bpd, down 31% from the same period last year.
* Imports from Malaysia, the largest trans-shipment hub for sanctioned Iranian oil, were down 41% to 5.14 million tons, or 1.21 million bpd, in March.
* Imports from Indonesia in March stood at 5.58 million tons, or 1.31 million bpd.
* China imported around 0.1 million tons of crude from Indonesia in the whole of 2024, and imports surged in July last year to more than 2 million tons per month. Reuters previously reported that the surge in imports from Indonesia pointed to a way of masking shipments of sanctioned Iranian crude transshipped in waters off Malaysia.
* Total imports from Malaysia and Indonesia stood at 10.72 million tons in March, or 2.52 million bpd, up 21.9% year-on-year.
* Imports from Iraq dropped 46% year-on-year to 3.97 million tons in March, or 0.93 million bpd.
* Customs did not record any imports from the U.S., Venezuela, or Iran.
Below lists imports from main suppliers with volumes in million metric tons rounded to one digit based on customs data and year-on-year percentage change calculations by Reuters: Country 2026 2025 yr/yr
March March %chang
e Indonesia 5.58 0.05 12214% Iraq 3.97 7.36 -46% Kuwait 0.60 1.25 -52% Malaysia 5.14 8.75 -41% Oman 3.64 2.52 44% Saudi Arabia 5.86 8.45 -31% UAE 2.68 2.61 3% Angola 2.41 2.57 -6% Russia 10.07 8.85 14% Brazil 5.03 1.98 154% US 0.00 0.54 -100% Venezuela 0.00 0.15 -100% Iran 0.00 0.00
(metric ton = 7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion)
(Reporting by Sam Li and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)