LSFO storage available for lease at Zhoushan, China’s largest bunkering hub, stood at 2.08m mcm as of Nov. 5, according to Platts.

• This is down 5.88% from record highs in October and doubling to around 103% on the year, according to Zhejiang Mercantile Exchange data.
• Local refineries imported more fuel for November as available export quotas dwindled.
• In October, LSFO storage surged to 2.21m mcm, reaching an all-time high due to steadily depleting stockpiles in Zhoushan.
• With the smaller than expected 1m mt of fuel oil export quotas released for LSFO in September, local bunker supplies had to deal with tighter inventories for the remainder of the year.
• China has allocated a total of 13m mt of export quotas for LSFO.
• The price spread between 0.5%S fuel oil in Zhoushan v Singapore widened to $14.28/mt in October, compared to $5.29/mt in September.