China imported 36.11 million tonnes, or 8.79 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in June, customs data showed on Thursday, again making the country the world’s top buyer for the month. June imports were up 17.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations, although shipments dipped 2.9 percent from May’s figure, which was the second-highest on record. Strong demand is being driven by low oil prices and growth in sports utility vehicle sales, said Neil Beveridge, a senior analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong. Appetite for imports is also being stoked by declining domestic output. Imports compared with average shipments to the United States in June of 7.94 million bpd, according to Reuters calculations based on weekly U.S. data. For the first six months of 2017, China shipped in 212 million tonnes of crude, or 8.55 million barrels per day […]