China slashes fuel export quotas by 73% following new taxes (updated)

China Aviation Oil (Singapore)

10/08/2021 09:42

(Adds LSFO quotas, details)
    SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China has cut export
quotas for refined fuels by 73% year-on-year in the second issue
for 2021, as new taxes on imports of key blending fuels are set
to boost sales of domestically refined fuels.  
    The latest batch of quotas, totalling 7.5 million tonnes,
were issued to seven firms, including a private refiner,
according to two people familiar with the matter. 
    That was sharply down from 28 million tonnes in the second
batch a year earlier and 27.99 million tonnes in the first batch
for 2021.
    The quota issues did not give the breakdowns by products,
which normally cover diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel. 
    Beijing also separately issued 3 million tonnes of
low-sulphur marine fuel export quotas in the second batch, down
from 5 million tonnes in first release for 2021.      
    China started levying hefty taxes on imports of light cycle
oil (LCO), mixed aromatics and diluted bitumen from June 12, to
curb imports that it blames for worsening a fuel surplus and
polluting the environment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2N4037 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2N703F
    Beijing normally issues several batches of fuel export
quotas during a year. For 2020, it allotted quotas totalling
nearly 59 million tonnes. 
    The recipients of the latest issues are CNPC, Sinopec,
CNOOC, Sinochem, China National Aviation Oil Company, defence
conglomerate Norinco and private refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical
Corp (ZPC), sources said.
    The Ministry of Commerce, which is in charge of the quota
releasing, did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for
comment.
    

    

 (Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Florence Tan in Singapore, Muyu Xu
in Beijing, Editing by Louise Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)
 ((muyu.xu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 56692117;))