BEIJING, Aug 25 (Reuters): China's crude oil imports from Venezuela plunged 62 per cent in July from the previous month, Chinese customs data showed on Sunday, as growing tension between Washington and the Maduro government made buyers wary of taking oil from the South American exporter.
Arrivals of crude oil from Venezuela were 703,742 tonnes last month, or 165,720 barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed. That is down from 275,646 bpd in June.
With US sanctions on Venezuela having already driven away many of its oil buyers, the Trump administration in early August kept up the pressure by threatening sanctions on any company that works with Maduro's government.
Venezuela's oil exports fell 17.5 per cent in July to their second-lowest since Washington imposed the sanctions in January, according to internal data from the company and Refinitiv Eikon.
China National Petroleum Corp, a leading buyer of Venezuelan oil, has halted loadings in August amid concerns over potential hits by the secondary sanctions.
Refinitiv Oil Research showed only three cargos carrying a total 540,000 tonnes of crude have left from Venezuela for China so far this month, half of the figure in July.
For the first seven months of the year, China's imports of Venezuela crude oil fell 13.4 per cent on a year earlier to 9.37 million tonnes, or 322,601 bpd.
Crude shipments from Iran rose in July to 926,119 tonnes, or 218,086 bpd, despite US sanctions on the country. Last week, Reuters exclusively reported that a China-owned oil tanker, cited by the US government as carrying Iranian oil, changed name in an apparent effort to evade US sanctions.
Meanwhile, China's exports of rare earth magnets to the United States rebounded in July from the previous month, customs data showed on Sunday, as concerns linger that Beijing could restrict supply of rare earth products in the Sino-US trade war.
Shipments to the United States totalled 447 tonnes last month, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, the highest monthly total in customs database records going back to January 2017. The volume was up 8 per cent from June, when shipments had dropped from May's high of 431 tonnes, and up around 26 per cent year-on-year.
China is the world's dominant producer of rare earth magnets, which are widely used in medical devices, consumer electronics, and defence. It has raised the prospect of restricting rare earth supply to the United States, although no formal measures have been announced.
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