Crude drops on soft Chinese export data, growth concerns
Published Aug 10, 2012 01:08PM ET
Cuts to European growth estimates for next year sent oil falling as well.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at USD92.81 a barrel on Friday, down 0.59%, off from a session high of USD93.53 and up from an earlier session low of USD91.72.
China reported earlier that its trade surplus narrowed unexpectedly in July, dropping to USD25.1 billion from a USD31.7 billion surplus.
Economists were expecting a USD35.1 billion surplus.
Soft demand for Chinese exports sent shudders across energy markets on fears the global economy may be battling stronger headwinds than once thought and will need less fuels to grow.
China, meanwhile, is importing less oil.
Beijing's General Administration of Customs reported the country's net crude imports hit 21.6 million metric tons during July, or 5.1 million barrels a day, the lowest since December 2011.
Meanwhile in Europe, the European Central Bank on Thursday trimmed its forecast for economic growth to 0.6% in 2013, down from 1% previously.
The ECB also forecast a 0.3% contraction in growth this year, slightly worse than its previous forecast for a 0.2% contraction.
Concerns the world will demand less fuel next year also sent the commodity falling.
The International Energy Agency upped its forecast for global oil demand for this year, forecasting demand to grow by 900,000 barrels per day from 800,000 forecast last month, but cut its forecast for demand to grow by 800,000 barrels per day in 2013 from a previous call of 1 million barrels per day.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for September delivery were down 0.26% and trading at USD112.92 a barrel, up USD20.11from its U.S. counterpart.
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