West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes fell for the first time in three days after exports from China unexpectedly shrank; stoking speculation the world’s second-largest oil consumer may miss economic growth targets.
Futures lost as much as 1.5 percent in New York. China’s overseas shipments declined by 18.1 percent in February from a year earlier, the biggest drop since August 2009, the General Administration of Customs reported on March 8. WTI rose 1 percent on March 7, the most in four days, as hedge funds increased bullish bets.
“Falling Chinese exports could be seen as sign of a slowing global economy,” said Carsten Fritsch , an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. While the data has “spooked the oil market,” the Chinese economy is still forecast to expand by 7.3 percent this year, he said.
WTI for April delivery slid as much as $1.53 to $101.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $101.24 as of 12:37 p.m. London time. Prices were stable last week, snapping a seven-week advance. The volume of all futures traded was 1 percent less than the 100-day average.
Brent for April settlement fell as much as $1.25 to $107.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.81 to WTI on ICE, compared with $6.42 on March 7. The spread narrowed for a fourth time last week.
The decline in China’s exports was the most since the global financial crisis five years ago, dealing a blow to confidence after Communist Party leaders meeting in Beijing set a 7.5 percent economic growth target for this year.
The nation imported 23.05 million metric tons of crude in February, down 18 percent from a record-high in January, customs data show.
China will account for about 11 percent of global oil demand in 2014, compared with 21 percent for the U.S., according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency in Paris.
“Today’s stats have undermined the prices of commodities dependent on Chinese demand,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London. “Still, the statistics that come from emerging markets tend to be a bit bumpy, with quite big swings, and the picture is still for higher growth than in mature economies.”
