China is to see a good start in the first year of "the 12th Five Years Plan" in bunker oil market. Her bonded bunker sales are to increase 20% and reach 10 million mt in 2011, a new record high.

Steady increasing economic and foreign-trade cargo throughput, lower bunker prices accompanying with fierce competition will lead to a stronger market.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's GDP rose by 9.6% year-on-year in the first half of this year.

The country's foreign-trade cargo throughput of large-scale ports tallied at 1.104 billion mt in January-May, up by 8.2% from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Transport indicated.

China's bonded bunker oil prices were even lower than those of Singapore this year, which is impossible to see before.

China's bonded bunker sales totaled 4.66 million mt in the first half of 2011, surging 0.80 million mt or 21%, and 0.72 million or 90% of which comes from Sinopec's sales increase.

Sinopec, together with her JV companies, had exceeded Brightoil to become China's No.2 bonded bunker supplier in the first half of this year, just behind Chimbusco, the traditional bunker giant.

Bunker traders and suppliers are very happy and full of optimistic sentiments here. Maybe we can see another "Singapore" in Asia bunker market in the next five or ten years, I think.