China's crude oil and rare earth imports rise in October
Shafaq News- Beijing
China imported 41.938 million tons of crude oil in October, up from 37.096 million tons in September, the General Administration of Customs said on Tuesday.
Refined oil imports increased to 3.151 million tons in October from 1.849 million tons in September, bringing the total for the first ten months of 2026 to 27.154 million tons.
Natural gas imports, meanwhile, fell to 10.013 million tons from 10.863 million tons in September, with cumulative imports reaching 99.215 million tons.
According to financial news platform Gelonghui, China also imported 8,270.2 tons of rare earth elements in October, up from 6,804.7 tons in September. Over the first ten months of 2026, crude oil imports totaled 399.895 million tons, compared with 85,250.1 tons of rare earth elements.
China's crude oil imports from Iraq rose 248% in September from August to 4.84 million tons —equivalent to about 1.18 million barrels per day (bpd)— but remained 19% below the level recorded a year earlier, Chinese customs data showed.
China's soybean imports fell to 7.345 million tons in October from 11.88 million tons in September, while iron ore and concentrate imports declined to 105.658 million tons from 109.817 million tons, and coal and lignite imports dropped to 39.431 million tons from 43.369 million tons. From January to October, imports totaled 93.479 million tons of soybeans, 1.060554 billion tons of iron ore and concentrate, and 392.961 million tons of coal and lignite.
