SHANGHAI — China has rushed to build up its reserves of food and other strategic goods from foreign sources, aiming to ensure a steady supply in the face of a widening array of global risks.
The oil tankers Stream and Snow made stops at the Guangdong Province port of Huizhou in July en route from Iran, according to Refinitiv, bringing crude oil that was likely received at facilities used exclusively by China Petroleum & Chemical, or Sinopec. The Chinese government built a state-run storage terminal at the port in 2010.
Tankers departing from Iran docked in China multiple times in August and are scheduled to do so this month as well. China imported 320 million tons of crude oil between January and July, 12% more than in the same period of 2019, official data shows. Read more…..

Chart of the Day
Icarus TV
The covid-19 pandemic could cause a massive drop in the number of Chinese students travelling abroad. That would be disastrous for many Western universities—but for the Chinese government, it is a geopolitical opportunity.