Xinhua quoted China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association said China's apparent oil consumption in the first seven months this year was down by 0.6%YoY but at slower pace

The apparent oil consumption represents net imports and output, and could be taken as an index for the real oil consumption excluding inventory.

CPCIA said in its latest reports that the decline was 2.6 percentage points lower than that of the first six months.

The reports showed that the apparent oil consumption for the first seven months was up 1.8%YoY. This was the first time the index had seen a rise this year. The apparent consumption of refined oil products fell by 1.6% from a year earlier but was up by 1% from the H1 of this year.

According to the CPCIA, the sales of refined oil in China domestic market reached 18.78 million tonnes, a record for this year. It was up 3.2%YoY and 8.1% from last month.

(Sourced from Xinhua)