The most recent Chinese economic data seem to paint a grim picture for oil. Demand for oil in July fell five per cent from the previous month, and is up just two per cent year on year, according to Deutsche Bank. That’s the slowest growth rate since January 2009, and oil prices have fallen below $80 since the news.
But China’s oil demand isn’t quite as weak as those numbers alone suggest, analysts and economists say.
In the first half of this year, the statistics for oil demand growth were unusually high because of a low base during the financial crisis. Oil imports were also large because of increasing refining capacity and growing oil reserves.