Bloomberg Surveillance · Wednesday, July 8, 2026
China's oil imports in June continued to decline from May, failing to rebound even after the MoU announcement. This trend provides significant flexibility to the global oil system, making it easier to accommodate geopolitical flare-ups. This unexpected development contributes to the underlying fundamentals for oil being bearish, despite short-term price pressures from the end of the ceasefire.
“And this goes back to something you guys mentioned just a minute ago what China had been doing. And this, I think to me was one of the most surprising things since the deal announcement is the fact that China oil imports in June they kept dropping versus May, so they didn't rebound after the announcement of the MLU.”
“And this gives the system a lot of flexibility. It makes it softer, it makes it easier to accommodate the flare ups like what we're seeing right now.”