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August 04, 2004Supply and demandThat's the reason oil has been hitting all time high prices: According to an analytical estimation by Ministry of Commerce, China's crude oil import will for the first time break through 100 million tons this year to hit a record of 110 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent. The import of refined oil is to reach 40 million tons, a rise of some 40 percent.This kind of growth can't last though, sales of cars are slowing down: Car sales in China are expected to grow by just 20 percent this year after nearly doubling in 2003 to two million units.Posted by Bruce Gottfred at August 4, 2004 04:08 PM | TrackBack Comments
Actually, even considering the China factor, the reason the price of oil is so high right now is because of the wrangling between the Russian Government and Yukos. The China issue will come back to bite us in a few years. Posted by: Paul Jané at August 5, 2004 12:13 AMThat's true, there's a lot of other reason oil is so high. But I was astonished at the increases in consumption in China. Something really strange is happening in that country. It'd be nice if it was real capitalism raising the wealth of the citizens, but I feel their economy is actually quite rigidly controlled by the government, with bureaucrats applying another layer of bandaids and quick fixes when something goes wrong. But it can't hold together forever. Posted by: Bruce Gottfred at August 5, 2004 08:06 AMPost a comment
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