One trader said such high export numbers are unusual and attributed the rise to increasing supplies from China’s north east “rust belt”. This area, made up of the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, is traditionally long in output with surpluses sold to the country’s south. The majority of the refineries in that rust belt region are owned by PetroChina.

“High refinery throughputs in January had led to a build in gasoline stocks, which had already prompted PetroChina units, such as Dalian Petrochemical Corp, to cut output in February [and] the hefty February exports could help draw down inventories,” said the trader who also added that the company’s March exports would ease down to around “180,000 to 200,000 tonnes”.