China saw imports of crude from both Middle East and South America rise by double digits in the first two months of this year, much higher the other origins.
China imported 21.02-mil mt of crude from the Middle East in the period, sharply up 29.84% from the same period last year; meantime, the nation's imports of South America crude increased 18.26% to 3.76-mil mt, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.
Middle East-origined crude had competitive prices as Brent-Dubai spread kept widening since the fourth quarter of 2010, which might continue this March, C1 reported earlier. In addition, extremely wide WTI crude discount to Brent crude stimulated imports of crude from South America.
Crude imports from the Caspian region and Asia-Pacific region marked hefty declines in the January-February period, the GAC data also indicated.
