Japan’s bonded bunker fuel sales fell 9% month on month to 2.02 million barrels in May, and were lower by 13.8% year on year, data released last Friday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed.

Bonded marine diesel oil sales fell 4.6% from April to 68,397 barrels in May, and were also 15.2% lower year on year, the data showed.

Japan imported 31,443 barrels of bonded bunker fuel oil in May, after skipping imports in March and April following imports of 31,650 barrels in February

Bonded bunker fuel is exempt from import tax and can be sold only to ships plying international routes.

Source: Platts