Since the beginning of May, international crude oil prices have shown wide fluctuations, and a cut in China’s refined oil retail ceiling prices is expected in the upcoming pricing cycle, weighing on the domestic refined oil market. During the May Day holiday, gasoline demand saw a marginal improvement. However, as the holiday ended, demand eased and petrol stations continued to adopt a sales-driven procurement strategy, with limited speculative buying. On the diesel side, the South China Sea entered its annual fishing ban on May 1, which will last for three and a half months, leading to a likely decline in marine fuel demand. In addition, persistent rainy weather in some regions restricted outdoor construction activities, curbing diesel consumption. As a result, downstream users largely stuck to on-demand purchases. Overall, with expectations of weakening demand for both gasoline and diesel, some sales enterprises launched promotional campaigns in advance to secure market share, which further contributed to the downward movement of refined oil prices.

In Northeast China, diesel stocks at state-owned sales companies remained at a high level, while gasoline stocks also slightly grew. Speculation stayed limited owing to the expectations of muted demand. In North China, gasoline consumption softened after the holiday, and diesel demand for construction activities was constrained by the rainy days in some regions, dampening sales from sellers.

In the Shandong market, as crude oil prices declined, downstream buyers turned cautious in procurement. After the holiday, however, they began restocking at lower price levels, leading to an improvement in market transactions and a modest rebound in gasoline and diesel prices.

In East China, wide fluctuations in crude oil prices triggered risk-averse sentiment in the market. After the holiday, expectations for gasoline and diesel demand cooled down, and transactions only showed brief improvement when traders engaged in bargain-hunting. In Central China, most sellers offered discounts to stimulate shipments, dragging down wholesale refined oil prices. In South China, the outlook for diesel consumption remained bearish due to the fishing ban and rainy weather that hampered outdoor construction activities.