China Customs latest statistics recorded 83.12 million tons of crude oil imports from January to August this year, a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent. The 8.76 million tons of imports in August means a 6.1 percent decline over the same month last year.

Imports of refined oil were down by 19.1 percent over the first eight months compared with the same period of last year. The imports in August, registered at 2.36 million tons, were 11.7 percent less than that in the same month last year.

However, imports of coal, iron ore and soybean soared. The slump of imports of automobiles and steel products has been moderated over the period, with auto imports down by 23.9 percent to 94,000 units and steel imports shrinking 21 percent to 17.5 million tons.

By People's Daily Online