Another month, another drop in Japanese demand

摘要

The METI reported that the country's aging and shrinking population is consuming less and less oil products. Total sales in Oct. were the lowest Oct. level in 37 years at 2.82MM b/d, representing a 2.2% drop on the year and a 0.5% month-on-month decline. Cooler weather boosted kerosene demand, and higher runs supported naphtha usage, but gasoline purchases declined 4.5% on the month and 4% on the year to 861K b/d. While gasoline imports showed a huge drop of 57.5% on the month to 12.3K b/d, they were up by 37% on the year.