OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2013. China's imports of Iranian crude oil in June slumped 39.1% year on year to 1.58 million mt, or an average 386,562 b/d, according to data from the country's General Administration of Customs received by Platts.

The volumes were also 32.9% lower than in May.

China's imports from Iran were lower despite overall crude imports rising 2.1% year on year to 22.17 million mt (5.42 million b/d) in June.

Iran was China's sixth largest crude supplier in June, compared with third in May.

SAUDI, ANGOLAN IMPORTS FALL; RUSSIAN, VENEZUELAN VOLUMES RISE

China's top crude suppliers in June remained Saudi Arabia and Angola, although shipments from Saudi Arabia tumbled 20.8% year on year to 3.9 million mt and imports from Angola fell 13.5% to 3.26 million mt.

In contrast, Russian crude imports surged 34.2% year on year and 34.5% from May to 2.66 million mt in June, while Venezuelan cargoes jumped 52.8% year on year and 46.1% month on month to 2 million mt.

Total imports from the Middle East stood at 10.18 million mt in June, down 5.7% year on year, even though there were significant increases from Iraq, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Volumes from Africa fell 13.4% year on year to 4.86 million mt last month. Aside from Angola, Libyan oil imports slumped 66.2% year on year to 279,527 mt, although cargoes from Equatorial Guinea more than doubled to 269,267 mt.

The rise in Venezuelan imports buoyed China's total crude imports from Latin America -- which surged 72.2% year on year to 2.91 million mt, the highest monthly volume since December 2012.

Colombian crude imports jumped 74.6% year on year to 181,165 mt in June, while Argentine shipments totaled 145,682 mt, following a five-month hiatus.

China also imported 65,276 mt of crude oil from Cuba, only for the second time this year. It had brought in 62,024 mt of crude from Cuba in February, the first such import since January 2010.

MIDEAST, LATIN AMERICA IMPORTS SLIDE IN H1 2013

In the first half of this year, Iranian crude imports totaled 10.52 million mt, down 1.9% year on year. This represented about 7.6% of China's total crude imports during the period, which dipped 1.4% year on year to 138.17 million mt.

Overall imports from the Middle East fell 23.7% year on year during the first half to 52.8 million mt, while Latin American cargoes slid 36.2% to 9.77 million mt.

However, African volumes rose 8.6% year on year to 37.45 million mt, while Asia Pacific crude imports increased by 21.2% to 4.63 million mt.