China’s Oil Reserves Grow Despite Lukewarm Demand

October 22, 2025

China’s total oil product demand jumped by 416,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August from July, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  

The data compiled from reports submitted by the individual countries also showed that the increase in China’s crude oil imports was higher than the rise in reported total product demand, suggesting that the world’s top crude oil importer continued to send some of the imported crude volumes into strategic or commercial storage. 

China’s crude oil imports jumped by 541,000 bpd in August compared to July, the JODI data showed.  

China has boosted crude stockpiling this year. The crude import volumes going into the world’s biggest importer have held strong despite lukewarm demand and an imminent peak in demand for road transportation fuels. 

China’s crude stockpiling has supported international oil prices into the $60-$70 a barrel range, despite trade wars, concerns about the economy, and soaring supply from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ exporters.

Unlike the United States, China does not report inventories. Analysts are looking at overall supply (domestic production plus imports) and refinery processing rates to estimate how much crude is going into strategic or commercial reserves and how much is being processed into fuels. 

After a slow start to the year, China began boosting its crude oil imports in March-April and has kept elevated import levels since then. The key driver has been crude stockpiling, not a major rebound in demand, according to analysts. 

Higher Chinese purchases have helped support oil prices despite the OPEC+ production hikes and persistent concerns about the growth rate of global oil demand amid inconsistent U.S. trade policies and tariffs.

From March onwards, “we started to see a very impressive rate of stockpiling, like close to one million barrels per day,” Frederic Lasserre, global head of research and analysis at commodity trading giant Gunvor, told the audience of the APPEC 2025 conference in Singapore last month.

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