China imported 41.94 million metric tonnes of crude oil in October, equal to 9.88 million barrels a day, the highest level since March, official customs data showed on Tuesday, 10 November. The daily rate rose 9.4 per cent from September, when imports stood at 9.03 million barrels a day, according to Reuters.

The rebound marks a partial recovery for the world's largest oil buyer after months of constrained purchasing. China sharply cut imports after the United States and Israel began their war on Iran on 28 February, which disrupted supplies from the Middle East. Imports fell to a ten-year low of 7.12 million barrels a day in June, as buyers drew instead on the country's large crude stockpiles while prices jumped above $100 a barrel.

Supplies from the Gulf return

Tanker-tracking data points in the same direction as the customs figures. Seaborne crude arrivals rose 12 per cent from September to around 9.2 million barrels a day in October, their highest since March, according to data from Kpler. Arrivals from the Middle East reached 4.65 million barrels a day in October, back to their pre-war level in March, the analysts found.

Imports from Saudi Arabia rose markedly. Kpler recorded Saudi arrivals at about 1.6 million barrels a day, while Vortexa put the figure at 2 million barrels a day. Gulf exporters have shipped more oil in recent months, calculating that the higher prices on offer offset the risk of attacks on vessels by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and by Tehran's Houthi allies in the Red Sea.

Still well below last year

The recovery should not be overstated. October imports were still down 13.3 per cent from a year earlier, and for the first ten months of 2026 arrivals were 15.1 per cent lower than in the same period of 2025. March, the last month largely unaffected by the conflict, saw imports of 11.77 million barrels a day, well above October's level.

China has relied on its crude inventories for most of the months since March, drawing on a stockpile of about 1.3 billion barrels while it bought less. October's rise suggests that strategy is easing, though analysts caution that higher Chinese buying could remove one of the factors that has kept a lid on oil prices, according to OilPrice.com.

Refined fuel exports fall

The same customs release showed a different picture for refined products. China's exports of oil products, including petrol, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil, fell to 5.18 million tonnes in October from 7.16 million tonnes in September, although they were up 14.6 per cent from a year earlier. Exports in the first ten months of the year totalled 46.59 million tonnes, down 2 per cent from a year earlier.

Oil product imports rose to 3.15 million tonnes in October from 1.85 million tonnes in September, while imports in the first ten months fell to 27.15 million tonnes from 34.19 million tonnes a year earlier. Natural gas imports, including liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas, rose 2.4 per cent from a year earlier to 10.01 million tonnes in October, with January-to-October imports totalling 99.22 million tonnes, down 2.8 per cent.

For now, the flow of crude into China is recovering, but the war in the Middle East continues to shape how much oil the world's biggest buyer can secure, and at what price.