21-05-03 China’s crude import in April rose 22 % from the previous year to 7.89 mm tons (1.87 mm bpd).
Due of a heavy buying ahead of the Iraq war, imports in the first four months of 2003 soared 43 % to 30.1 mm tons (1.84 mm bpd).

With a share of 15 %, Saudi Arabia remained the largest supplier of the country, followed by Iran, Sudan and Oman.
However, demand in the second half of April decreased by 4.95 mm bpd due to the impact of the SARS virus.