South China is estimated to import 230,000-270,000mt of fuel oil in February, sharply down 23% from the previous month, 21% less than a year earlier, C1's shipping fixtures showed.
Industry sources ascribed the on-month plunge to sufficient stocks of bonded bunker traders and weak demand during the Spring Festival holiday (Feb 2-8). In addition, high import costs affected imports, according to the sources.
All of the imports would be mixed/cracked fuel oil for bonded bunker market, C1's shipping fixtures showed.
In terms of origin, 200,000-240,000mt would be sourced from Singapore and the remainder from Japan.
Guangzhou and Huangpu ports in Guangdong Province would take in a combined 20,000mt of foreign fuel oil in February; Shenzhen port and Gongbei port, which are also in Guangdong, would record 150,000-200,000mt and 50,000mt of fuel oil imports, respectively. Fuel oil imports of Fujian, Hainan and Guangxi might be still lower than 5,000mt in total in the period.
Lofty import costs might still dampen buying interest of South China-based importers in March, but demand for straight-run fuel oil from local minor refineries might occur again, market sources predicted.
