Russia's Oil Exports to China Reach 77.65 Million Tons
China's customs authority reported on September 20 that Russia shipped 77.65 million tons of oil to China between January and August, with import value up 33.3 percent.
Russia delivered 77.65 million tons of oil to China between January and August this year, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs released on September 20, 2026. That marks an 18.1 percent increase over the same period in 2025. The value of those imports grew even faster, up 33.3 percent, reaching $44.84 billion.
Until now, coverage of Russia’s oil pivot toward Asia has largely tracked the daily Brent price. On September 17 we reported on Brent falling to $103 a barrel and on Saudi Aramco repairing a damaged pipeline within just a few days. The new customs figures are the first concrete numbers on the actual volume and value of deliveries, rather than on the exchange price.
Why value is rising faster than volume
When import value grows almost twice as fast as import volume, the reason is straightforward: the average price China paid per ton of Russian oil in the first eight months of 2026 was considerably higher than in the same period last year. An 18.1 percent rise in tonnage alongside a 33.3 percent rise in dollar value means China paid more per ton on average than a year earlier, even as it bought larger quantities. For the buyer, that is a double cost, higher volume and a higher price per unit. For Russia, it means both higher export revenue and a market share that held steady, or even grew.
The ratio between those two percentages also points to an approximate price per ton. Dividing $44.84 billion by 77.65 million tons gives an average price of about $577 per ton for the first eight months of 2026. Working the percentages backward, the price per ton in the same period of 2025 came out to roughly $511, meaning the average price of Russian oil sold to China rose about 13 percent in under a year, on top of the volume increase.
Who is losing, and who is gaining market share in China?
China’s customs data show that “Russia firmly holds its status as the largest oil exporter to China.” The second largest supplier, Saudi Arabia, shipped 40.41 million tons in the same period, down 22.8 percent. Brazil ranked third with 39.14 million tons, up 35.1 percent. Indonesia delivered 26.25 million tons, a jump of 128.7 percent, while Malaysia supplied 24.25 million tons, down 48.7 percent.
The rankings show that China is not dependent on a single supplier. While Russia and Brazil are gaining volume, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are losing ground, and Indonesia posted the sharpest increase of the five leading suppliers, even though it started from a smaller base than the top three.
What the comparison with previous years shows
China’s total oil imports for all of 2025 came to 577.72 million tons, up 4.4 percent from 2024. Yet in that same year, Russian deliveries fell 7.1 percent, to 100.72 million tons. A year earlier, in 2024, China’s overall oil imports had declined 1.9 percent, while deliveries from Russia rose 1.3 percent.
The new figures for the first eight months of 2026 point in the opposite direction from all of 2025: Russian deliveries are now rising, and rising faster than China’s overall oil imports. If that pace holds through the end of the year, Russia’s share of China’s oil imports in 2026 will exceed its 2025 level, when it stood at just over 17 percent of total volume.
China’s General Administration of Customs is due to release its next report, covering January through September, in mid October. That report will show whether the drop in Brent prices in the second half of September changes only the value of Russian deliveries, or their volume as well.
