China is propping up the global economy by buying a lot less oil, though analysts questioned how long Beijing would maintain its modest rate of purchases as it draws down on reserves.
China’s oil imports have fallen by almost 5 million barrels a day — equivalent to roughly 5% of global supply — since the start of the Iran war, helping tame already high crude prices.
Experts believe demand destruction in the world’s second-biggest economy only partly explains the reduction in oil imports, and warned that if Beijing resumed its pre-war level of crude purchases while the Strait of Hormuz remained shut, the global economic consequences could be devastating.
