China’s imports of oil recorded as Malaysian have plunged alongside the collapse of Iranian exports under the US naval blockade, suggesting how heavily Iran relied on relabeling its crude for its biggest customer.
In September, China imported just 276,000 barrels per day of oil recorded as Malaysian, down from an average of nearly 1.3 million barrels per day in 2025.
In some previous months, the figure had reached 2 million barrels per day. That is roughly four times Malaysia’s total oil production.
Much of the discrepancy may reflect oil coming from Iran but recorded by China’s customs as originating in Malaysia, alongside sanctioned oil from other producers and genuine Malaysian exports.
Chinese customs authorities have consistently reported zero monthly imports of Iranian oil since 2020. Yet tanker-tracking companies estimate that Iran delivered an average of around 1.5 million barrels per day to China last year.
Sanctions and blockade
Kpler previously told Iran International that most Iranian oil exports to China are recorded as Malaysian, while some cargoes are declared as originating from Iraq, Oman and even the United Arab Emirates. TankerTrackers has also documented the practice.
The decline in China’s recorded Malaysian imports has accelerated as US sanctions have tightened and the naval blockade has choked off Iranian exports.
Kpler data obtained by Iran International show that Iran delivered more than 1.55 million barrels per day of oil to China between January and May this year. From June through September, the average fell to less than half that level.
By mid-October, the volume of Iranian oil afloat outside the US blockade line had fallen to zero.
If current trends persist, China’s imports of oil recorded as Malaysian could fall to their lowest level in years, potentially approaching the 2017 level of just 130,000 barrels per day as early as this month or next.
Alternative suppliers
While Iranian oil exports have collapsed, tanker-tracking data show that overall oil exports from the Middle East have recovered to prewar levels and even surpassed them.
The Wall Street Journal, citing Kpler data, reported that the region’s exports of oil and petroleum products have reached 24 million barrels per day, above the level recorded before the war.
Before the war, more than 80% of the oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz was destined for Asian markets, with China the largest buyer.
Chinese customs data show that in September, China imported an average of 2.9 million barrels per day from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, up from less than 2 million barrels per day in May.
The figure nevertheless remained below February’s prewar level, when China’s combined imports from those five countries exceeded 3.8 million barrels per day.
The numbers also reflect a broader shift in Chinese oil buying after the outbreak of war. As global prices surged, China at one point cut overall crude imports by around 30% and drew instead on its strategic petroleum reserves.
In that sense, China acted as a significant shock absorber, helping limit an even sharper increase in global oil prices.
Before the war, China imported around 11.5 million barrels per day of crude. Following the US-Israeli war on Iran and disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, imports fell to around 8 million barrels per day before recovering more recently to above 9 million.
The shift suggests that China is increasingly replacing lost Iranian barrels with oil from other Middle Eastern producers. The disappearance of China’s “Malaysian” imports is yet another measure of how sharply the blockade has curtailed Iran’s access to its most important oil market.
The original article, written by Dalga Khatinoglu, was published on Iran International.