China faces 'no diesel fuel shortage in winter'

China will not face diesel fuel shortages this winter because of weak industrial activity and sufficient supply, said Shanghai-based energy consultancy ICIS C1 Energy.

In the past few years, a diesel fuel shortage happened every winter starting from October because of the high demand from the industrial sector. However, that will not occur this year.

Affected by the gloomy global economy, China's economy has been growing at a slower rate in the past months, which lessened the demand for diesel fuel, which is mainly used in transportation and industrial production.

"In fact, the diesel fuel supply will exceed demand in the fourth quarter," said Liao Na, senior analyst at C1 Energy.

In previous years, the government limited electricity consumption in industrial manufacturing in the fourth quarter to save energy and help meet carbon reduction targets, which forced many factories to buy diesel generators to ensure a power supply for production.

"However, factories in many businesses have fewer orders because of the gloomy economy so diesel demand dropped sharply," she said.

Diesel fuel output during the first nine months reached 126.48 million metric tons, a 1.8 percent growth year-on-year, according to public figure.

dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn