Mubasher: Oil prices dropped by more than 1% on Monday after Chinese data revealed a slump in imports and exports in the world’s second biggest crude consumer.

By 7:40 am GMT, global benchmark Brent futures fell 1.29% to $59.70 per barrel (pb), while US Nymex crude futures dropped 1.49% to $50.82 pb.

China’s total exports slid by 4.4% year-on-year last December, recording the steepest monthly drop since two years, official data showed on Monday.

Moreover, Chinese imports shrank last month, shedding 7.6%, which was the largest fall since July 2016.

“Crude futures were back in the red as trading began for a fresh week in Asia, in tandem with most of the region’s stock markets [...] [as] China early Monday reported $351.76 billion trade surplus in dollar terms for 2018, the lowest since 2013,” Vanda Insights energy consultant Vandana Hari said in a note.

Weakening trade data confirms a slew of indicators that pointed to a slowdown in the Chinese economy since the second half of this year.

That said, Chinese oil imports remained above the 10 million barrels per day (bpd), standing at 10.31 million bpd on stock building by small independent refiners that were trying to use up annual quotas.

However, some support was provided to crude markets, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) along with allied producers, including Russia, have been reducing supplies since late last year.

Moreover, US drillers slashed four oil rigs in the week ended 11 January, to a total of 873, energy service firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.