Line up today's eleven quotes and the heavy-oil and rubber chains trace two separate paths. Fuel oil gained RMB 4.05 to 4,963; bitumen slipped RMB 1.03 to 4,424. Natural rubber held flat at 19,905; butadiene rubber edged up 0.25 to 16,015.

Fuel oil strength ties directly to independent refinery runs and bonded bunker demand. The East Asian high-sulfur fuel oil premium has held high for weeks, and the cracking margin gives refiners room to defend price. Bitumen moves the other way: off-season demand fell away, inventory days climbed, and the spot-forward basis narrowed.

The rubber line is quieter. Natural rubber sits in the gap between tapping seasons; Yunnan and Hainan warehouse receipts barely moved, and tire makers are cautious on restocking. Butadiene rubber tracks butadiene itself — unit maintenance is winding down, offering some support, but downstream volume has not picked up.

For SNSUC's data panel, 13 categories cannot be summed into one average curve. The heavy-oil chain reads on cracks and premiums; the rubber chain reads on warehouse receipts and operating rates. The drivers do not overlap. We split the feed into two display channels so crude moves do not get used to explain rubber — that would mislead the procurement rhythm.