China becomes world's biggest crude oil importer

China became the world’s biggest importer of crude last month, overtaking the United States for the first time, despite a sluggish economy.

The surge in imports was a surprise as China’s growth remained subdued and oil demand was expected to decline, although a series of stimulus measure look to have boosted demand.

In April, China, the world’s largest energy consumer, imported approximately 7.4m barrels of crude per day, according to official figures.

Analysts believe that the world’s second-biggest economy is heading towards permanently overtaking the US as the world’s main crude importer.

"Being the world's biggest crude importer should give China more buying power,” Philip Andrews-Speed, head of energy security research at the National University of Singapore was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“China's engagement in the Middle East will continue to change, and it will no longer be the minority player.

"China becomes not only more important to Middle Eastern states, but the Middle East becomes progressively more important to China relative to other countries that are importing less oil.”

China implemented a drastic change to its oil politics in the wake of a slump in oil prices, which saw the value of crude plummet 60% between June and January, because of a supply glut and geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

Separately, the Financial Times, citing Chinese customs data, noted that that the country imported 3.029 million metric tons of crude oil - around 222 million barrels, equating to 7.4 million barrels per day in round figures - in April. It marked a 13% rise in month-on-month terms.

Concurrently, latest data from the US Energy Information Administration puts the country’s imports lower that Chinese imports, at an average of 7.11 million and 7.15 million barrels of crude oil per day in February and January, respectively.

Given mixed, and in some cases lacklustre macroeconomic data from China, respective levels of economic activity could see China and the US swap places as the leading oil importers several times over the coming months.