China buys gasoline from Taiwan and South Korea

China's surprise fuel price hike may do little to reverse a trend of rising oil products imports in the past few months, as demand in the world's No.2 oil consumer is unlikely to be hard-hit, traders said Friday.

China's Sinopec and PetroChina have bought at least 200,000 tons of gasoline for July delivery so far from South Korea and Taiwan, steady with levels in June, trade sources said. The purchases -- 120,000 tons from Korea and around 90,000 tons from Taiwan -- compare with at least 140,000-200,000 tons bought for June, traders said.