Draconian Covid-related lockdowns have a direct and significant effect on China’s economic growth. The extended Covid-19 lockdown in Chengdu last week has led to a sharp selloff in crude oil futures. The probability of further lockdown-related oil price shocks in the next few weeks looks high. The sharp drop in crude oil prices last week on news that China had extended a Covid-19 lockdown in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, for the majority of its 21 million residents, again highlighted the capacity for such news to cause major sudden falls oil prices in a market characterised by uncertain demand and supply. As the largest annual gross crude oil importer in the world, surpassing the U.S . in this regard in 2017 (having become the world’s largest net importer of total petroleum and other liquid fuels in 2013), China has long been the global backstop bid […]