Weakening oil demand in China hints at structural flaws in the country’s economy, which Beijing must now confront. Up until 2020, rising property values were the tide that lifted all boats in China. During China’s boom years, steady wage growth sustained demand for new apartments and encouraged real estate developers to buy land from local governments to build tower blocks. This, in turn, drove demand for oil — diesel for haulage and distributed power, naphtha for plastic fixtures and fittings, and bitumen for expanding the road network.
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