(Changes date in first paragraph to Wednesday, not Friday)
(Recasts, adds details)
By Osamu Tsukimori
TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - China overtook Japan as the
world's second-largest crude oil importer in May, according to
data on Wednesday that showed an 8 percent rise in purchases by
Japan, where power plants have been forced to burn more crude.
Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports in May rose 8.0
percent to 18.525 million kilolitres (3.76 million barrels per
day) from a year earlier, preliminary data of Japan's Ministry
of Finance showed on Wednesday.
China, which surpassed Japan as the world's No. 2 oil
consumer in 2003, imported 16,198,188 tonnes (118.25 million
barrels, or 3.81 million bpd) of crude in May, up 25 percent
from a year ago, customs data showed on Monday. [ID:nPEK328405]
"It's a symbol of the era," said Akira Kamiyama,
derivatives trader at Mitsui & Co. "Japan's imports will be
capped, but China's imports will grow fast, with no end in
sight."
The increase in Japanese imports comes amid the prolonged
shutdown of the world's biggest nuclear power plant, operated
by Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) (TEPCO), after a major
earthquake last July. The shutdown doubled TEPCO's demand for
direct-burning crude and fuel oil for thermal generation.
But overall, Japan's domestic oil sales have been shrinking
at around 4 percent a year since 2006, and the government
expects the slide to continue as record high prices spur
industries to shift to electricity or alternative power
sources.
China's imports are growing quickly as double-digit
economic growth and low, state-set domestic fuel prices drive
demand in the world's most populous nation.
Analysts expect China's crude imports to get support from
this month onward after Beijing's surprise decision to raise
gasoline and diesel prices by nearly a fifth last week revived
refining margins, encouraging them to step up production.
China's announcement this month that it would speed up
building commercial oil reserves to cope with turbulence in the
oil market also helps support China's imports, Kamiyama added.
For the first five months of 2008, however, Japan held a
comfortable lead over China. Both still lag far behind the
United States, which imports some 10 million bpd of crude.
China's crude imports in the year through May are up 12.7
percent at 75,967,509 tonnes (3.65 million bpd), while Japan's
imports rose 7 percent to 104.377 million kl (4.32 million bpd)
in January-May, according to Reuters calculations.
The Middle East suppliers boosted crude exports to Japan by
5 percent in May to 16.393 million kl, the data showed. Saudi
Arabia, the top oil exporter to Japan, has boosted its crude
supplies to Japan to full contracted volumes since last
November.
The value of May's crude imports increased 53.4 percent to
1.303 trillion yen ($12.09 billion) from a year earlier,
following a 55.0 percent annual rise in April as prices soar.
While Japanese refiners are suffering from low domestic
margins and falling demand, crude imports may not fall much
further as many plants are reorienting themselves toward the
export market, hoping to take advantage of Chinese demand.
The value of Japan's mineral fuel exports to China more
than tripled to more than 70 billion yen in May from a year
ago, helped by China's robust thirst for Japan's high-quality
low-sulphur diesel used by trucks, ministry officials said.
Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for
the month of May (volumes of crude, oil products and
gasoline/naphtha in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in
million tonnes; values in billion yen; year-on-year percentage
changes in parentheses):
MAY
PRODUCT VOLUME VALUE
----------------------------------------------------------
Mineral fuels N/A 2,178.220 (+40.1%)
Crude oil 18.525 (+8.0%) 1,302.728 (+53.4%)
Oil products N/A 193.374 (+11.1%)
Gasoline/naphtha 2.088 (-17.3%) 143.147 (+1.2%)
LNG 5.217 (-13.5%) 327.872 (+21.1%)
LPG 1.175 (-11.7%) 105.430 (+15.5%)
Coal 15.708 (-6.7%) 239.366 (+47.4%)
($1=107.81 Yen)
(Additional reporting by Chen Aizhu)
