China sets 2013 non-state crude oil import quota

China, the world's second largest oil consumer, has set its 2013 non-State crude oil import quota at 29.1 million tons (580,000 barrels per day), the same as this year, the state-run China Daily reported Tuesday. The country also set its 2013 non-State fuel oil import quota at 16.2 million tons, unchanged from 2012, Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The crude import quota, equivalent to about 11.5 percent of China's total crude imports last year, will be allotted to traders outside the dominant four state traders including Unipec and Chinaoil, the newspaper said. As part of China's World Trade Organization commitments, the country had been increasing the amount of crude and refined fuels that non-state firms could import by 15 percent every year for a decade until 2011. China's dependence on oil imports rose to 56.7 percent in 2011 from 54.8 percent in 2010 and 52.6 percent in 2009, according to statistics from the Ministry of Land and Resources.