China tells companies to provide more diesel to agriculture

China's commerce ministry on Thursday urged major oil firms to increase diesel supplies to meet rising demand in the agricultural sector during spring and summer.

Related companies and government agencies must "spare no efforts to carry out various measures to ensure diesel supplies in the rural areas", the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website.

The ministry said it would closely monitor inventories and clamp down on any unapproved price hikes and speculative hoarding.

Chinese oil companies, despite huge profits from upstream operations, have been suffering from heavy losses in refining operations because of soaring crude oil prices and the country's central pricing system for oil products.