China Oil Buying Set to Return After Stockpile Drawdown

China is likely to return to buying large volumes of oil within weeks after selling down inventories during the peak of the Iran supply disruption, according to Mercuria. Marco Dunand, chief executive of the trading house, said at the FT Commodities Summit that China has been drawing from commercial stocks accumulated ahead of the crisis, effectively stepping back from the market as prices surged and Middle East flows tightened. That sell-off is a critical and possibly underappreciated part of the recent balance. China entered 2026 with a sizable…