China's gasoline apparent consumption was 50.19-mil mt in the first eight months of the year, up by 7.7% from the same period last year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The growth is mainly because of brisk demand from end-users as vehicle ownerships keep rising, market sources said.
The number of registered motor vehicles was 219-mil by the end of August, up by 20-mil or 10% from end 2010, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security. The number of cars hit 100-mil mt for the first time.
China's gasoline output increased by 5.7% year on year to 53.18-mil mt from January to August, the NBS data showed.
Sinopec raised its gasoline production and reduced exports to ensure the supply after it suspended outsourcing blended gasoline from May because of quality problem, market sources said.
China exported 2.99-mil mt of gasoline in January-August, down by 19.8% from the same period last year, according to the data.
China's gasoline imports were zero during the period because of ample domestic supply.
