According to the latest figures from China's General Administration of Customs, China, the world's second largest oil consumer after the US, imported 23.95 million metric tonnes of crude oil in May this year, 6% less than that in the same month of last year.
The crude oil imports last month were 3.8% more than the 23.08 million metric tonnes in April.
The country saw its imports of oil products reach 4 million metric tons and its exports of oil products hit 2.75 million metric tonnes.
In the first five months of this year, the country's imports of crude oil totaled 116 million metric tonnes, down 2.0% year on year.
In 2012, the country imported 271.09 million metric tonnes of crude oil, 7.3% more than in 2011.
