China imported 8.1 million barrels of crude oil a day in the second quarter of 2026, a 32% drop from the first quarter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The pullback followed a jump in oil prices tied to disrupted flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and China's retreat from the market pulled down global demand enough to ease the price pressure the disruption had created, the EIA said.
Monthly data from China's General Administration of Customs show imports slipped below 8.0 million b/d in May and June, the first time that has happened since 2016. The drop stands against a record 2025, when China imported an average of 11.6 million b/d for the year and built up strategic oil stocks while prices sat at their lowest since 2020, before tensions around the Strait of Hormuz took hold. China kept importing an average of 12.0 million b/d in the second half of 2025, a pace that held through February 2026.
Which suppliers lost the most
Most of China's crude arrives by tanker rather than pipeline, and tanker-tracking data from Vortexa show the second-quarter drop came from waterborne cargoes; pipeline supply held steady, the EIA estimates. Between the first and second quarters of 2026, waterborne imports fell most from:
- Iraq, down 910,000 b/d
- Russia, China's top supplier, down 640,000 b/d
- the UAE, down 600,000 b/d
Refiners cut less than imports fell
China's refineries processed 2.2 million b/d less crude in the second quarter than the first, a smaller cut than the 3.9 million b/d drop in imports, pointing to a drawdown of crude oil inventories. The EIA estimates global oil inventories fell by a record 5.1 million b/d in the second quarter, a figure it says would have been larger if global demand had not slowed.
