OREANDA-NEWS. June 22, 2011. China halved gasoline exports in May over the same month a year earlier and scaled back diesel exports by nearly 70 percent, data showed on Tuesday, as the government continued to cap fuel exports to avoid summer shortages.

 Traders said that after months of export curbs and accelerated refinery operations, fuel supplies in the world's No.2 oil market had improved and inventories of main transportation fuels had climbed, making imports of diesel less likely despite power supply cuts in some regions.

 Diesel exports fell 68 percent in May over a year earlier to about 177,000 tonnes, while imports rose about 23 percent to 131,479 tonnes, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

 Although the import volume rose, traders once again cautioned that the figure included double-counting of diesel shipped into tax-bond storages by western trading houses such as Gunvor that did not enter the domestic market, and thus did not reflect real imports.

 Gasoline exports fell 51 percent on year to 262,515 tonnes, also down 30 percent from the April rate.

 "The market is quite well supplied at the moment. The government still controls exports, but also there is little need for diesel imports," said a Beijing-based trader. "Power shortage concerns have eased a lot since last week as there was lots of rainfall in the south, raising hydropower supplies."

 "Growth in fuel demand also seems to be easing due to government macro controls," the trader added.

 Imports of fuel oil grew 8.7 percent last month over a year earlier to 2.29 million tonnes, the data showed.