China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), Asia's top refiner, will suspend oil product exports in the third quarter in order to increase domestic supply, Sinopec Group said.

The company will on the other hand increase gasoline and diesel imports for the summer harvest, the Beijing Olympics and earthquake relief, the group said in a statement.

Sinopec absorbs built-in losses for fuel imports because of domestic price caps at the retail level. The Chinese government has agreed to subsidize oil majors on a monthly basis starting April against losses arising from the import of crude and fuel.

Yesterday a company official said that Sinopec received around 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) in subsidies for oil imports in April.