China, Iran's biggest oil client, imported 2.44 million tons of Iranian oil last month, or 575,700 barrels per day (bpd), up 3.0 percent from a year ago, but down 14.3 percent from June's 671,800 bpd.
Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts had put its latest estimate of China's July imports from Iran at 2.65 million tons, or 624,000 bpd. The group expects volume from Iran to come in at 586,400 bpd in August.
For the first seven months of the year, China brought in 17.1 million tons of Iranian crude oil, or 587,400 bpd, down 4.9 percent from the year-earlier period, the customs data showed, but still above the 2014 average of roughly 555,000 bpd.
China lifted a total of 7.23 million bpd in July, its second highest month on record.