China imported accumulatively 41.4-mil mt of crude from Africa in January-August, accounting for 24.84% of the total, data from the General Administration of Customers (GAC) showed.
The volume was down by 14.4% from the same period last year.
West Africa-origined crude is of lower price-performance ration compared with crude from the Middle East, because of strong Brent crude prices since early February, market sources said.
China's crude imports from the Middle East recorded at 84.23-mil mt in the first eight months, a year-on-year increase of 17.4%, the GAC data showed.
Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran were still the three biggest crude suppliers for China in the period. Crude imports from the top three accounted for 19.34%, 12.27% and 10.9% of the total imports, respectively, the data also showed.
China's crude imports from the other Middle East countries, such as Oman, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates also increased in the January-August period.
