Asia's March Iran oil imports hit five-month high

Tehran (Defapress) -China, India, Japan and South Korea last month imported a total of 1.73 million barrels per day (bpd) from Iran, the data showed. That was 12.5 percent lower than a year earlier but the most since October.

China’s imports of Iranian crude in March surged to 726,000 bpd, up nearly 16 percent from a year earlier and rebounding from below 500,000 bpd in February, Reuters reported.

India’s imports from Iran were down 18 percent to about 430,000 bpd last month. South Korea’s purchases were down by more than a third.

Imports into Japan dropped about 12 percent from a year earlier to 196,663 bpd, data from the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Friday.

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