Middle East conflict drags on, Japan's crude oil imports in March hit a record low

Golden Ten Data, April 3 – According to Japanese media reports on the 3rd, affected by the situation in the Middle East, Japan's crude oil imports in March dropped sharply to their lowest level since 2013. According to statistics from market service provider Kpler, Japan imported approximately 52.03 million barrels of crude oil in March, a month-on-month decrease of about 30%. Kpler data shows that Japan’s crude oil imports in March were highly dependent on Gulf countries. Since most of the crude oil arriving in March was shipped before the US and Israel attacks on Iran, imports are expected to decline significantly further after April. Kpler predicts that imports in April will drop to 42.15 million barrels, about 41% less than in February.