China increased crude oil imports from Russia in May, with customs data shown on Monday. This helped offset losses from Western countries that reduced Russia's energy purchases from the Ukrainian invasion.
The surge means that Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become China's top oil provider as the West sanctions Moscow's energy exports.
The world's second-largest economy imported about 8.42 million tonnes of oil from Russia last month, up 55% from a year ago.
Beijing refused to publicly condemn the Moscow war and instead forced economic interests from isolated neighbors.
In May, we imported 7.82 million tons of oil from Saudi Arabia.
According to Bloomberg News, China bought $ 7.47 billion worth of Russian energy products last month, about $ 1 billion more than in April.
New customs data will occur four months after the war in Ukraine, with buyers from the United States and Europe avoiding Russia's energy imports or reducing them over the next few months. I promised.
Asian demand has helped buyers from Russia, especially China and India, to stop some of these losses.
India bought six times as much Russian oil from March to May compared to the same period last year, but China's imports during that period tripled, according to a survey. Data from the company Rystad Energy shows.
"For now, it is pure economics that Indian and Chinese refiners are importing more Russian crude oil ... because such oil is cheap," the analyst said. Wei Cheong Ho said.
According to the latest Global Oil Report of the International Energy Agency, India has overtaken Germany as the second largest importer of Russian crude oil in the last two months.
China has been Russia's largest oil market since 2016.
'No restrictions'
A few days before Moscow invaded Ukraine, China's President Qingdao said both countries were "restricted." In Beijing, which declared a bilateral relationship of "none," he greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin.
China's demand remains sluggish due to COVID restrictions, but some improvement has been seen in the past month as cities have loosened control after the worst outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. I did.
Official data show that this alleviated supply chain problems and restored industrial production.
According to customs data, China's overall imports from Russia surged 80% in May from a year ago to $ 10.3 billion.
Beijing's purchase of Russian liquefied natural gas increased 54% from a year ago to 397,000 tonnes, despite a decline in overall fuel imports.
China has been accused of providing Russia with a diplomatic shield by criticizing Western sanctions against Moscow and the sale of weapons to Kieu.
Joint Goal
Beijing and Moscow, once fierce Cold War rivals, have strengthened cooperation in recent years in proportion to what appears to be global domination of the United States. I've done it.
This month, they announced the first road bridge connecting the countries, connecting the Russian Far East city of Blagoveshchensk with the northern Chinese city of Heihe.
Last week, Xi assured Putin China's support for Russia's "sovereignty and security" in a call between the two leaders.
The Kremlin said it had agreed to strengthen economic cooperation in the face of "illegal" Western sanctions.
The West imposes unprecedented sanctions on Russia in retaliation for the war in Ukraine, forcing Moscow to find new markets and suppliers to replace foreign companies leaving Russia after the invasion. I did.
In late May, the European Union of 27 countries agreed on a package of sanctions to stop most of Russia's oil imports.
The United States has already banned all Russian oil, but European countries are much more dependent on these imports.
Energy is the primary source of income for the Putin administration, and Western nations are trying to isolate Moscow and impede its ability to continue the war.
