As the coronavirus epidemic brought the world’s second-largest economy to a near-halt during the early part of the year, Chinese crude importers engaged in a massive buying spree, but now the Chinese bounty appears to be evaporating, and the bulls have been put on high alert by the weakening of a key oil price catalyst. In May, China’s crude imports soared to an all-time high, with imports clocking in at 47.97 million tons, or 11.34 million barrels a day , according to Bloomberg. The furious buying by the world’s largest crude importer was a key reason why oil prices were able to stage a quick come back from their historic lows in April. But after two consecutive months of heightened purchases, Chinese imports of crude oil slowed quite dramatically in the month of June, with traders from Houston to Geneva to Singapore reporting that the country’s appetite for crude […]