China's second batch of crude import quotas for the year is-as expected-smaller than the first.But a third of the country's independent refiners have received 80-100pc of their full-year entitlement,suggesting that fears of swingeing cuts to the quota system are misplaced.China awarded 257mn bl of import rights to 46 firms in its second round of quotas for this year.The batch is just 30pc of the size of the first issuance,but the bulk of the annual allowance generally comes at the start of the year.The government has issued 3.1mn b/d of import rights this year,of which 1.8mn b/d has gone to independent refining hub Shandong and 600,000 b/d to Liaoning province.Refiners and trading firms expect at least one more quota batch this year-Beijing capped the 2021 non-state import quota at 4.86mn b/d,leaving space for as much as 1.75mn b/d of additional import rights.
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