Chinese economic data has been disappointing. Last week we had:
And the property sector is collapsing under the weight of debt, again:
And yet, analysts have argued that China’s oil-consumption figures have held up. An RBC commodity strategist note says:
- while Chinese macro data has underwhelmed over recent weeks, end-use refined product data looks far from terrible
- Chinese product inventories are tight and although diesel inventories have recently rebounded from the recent low, gasoline stocks have fallen for 13 consecutive weeks. Demand has been strong enough to keep product inventories subdued even with refinery utilization surging since exiting turnaround season in June
Oil update, Brent: