SHANGHAI: China said on Saturday that it would ban exports of some petroleum products to North Korea, as well as imports of textiles from the country, in line with a UN Security Council resolution passed after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test.
The announcement from Beijing came at the end of a week in which tensions soared between the United States and North Korea, with the leaders of both countries trading insults.
The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that China would limit exports of refined petroleum products to North Korea from Oct 1 and ban exports of condensates and liquefied natural gas immediately to comply with the latest UN sanctions.
North Korea depends on China for almost all its oil and gas but estimates of its consumption are low, leaving it unclear how Beijing's new limit will affect them. The restrictions announced on Saturday do not apply to crude oil, which makes up the biggest share of energy exports to the North.
Imports of textiles from North Korea would also be banned immediately, it said.
Textile trade contracts signed before Sept 11 would be honoured if import formalities are completed before midnight on Dec 10, the statement said.
The moves follow the adoption of a unanimous Security Council agreement on sanctions after the isolated North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept 3.
That resolution imposed a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels.
China accounts for some 90% of the North's trade, making its cooperation critical to efforts to derail Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development.
The US Energy Information Agency estimates the North Korea's daily imports from China last year were 15,000 barrels of crude oil and 6,000 barrels of refined products. That would be the equivalent of almost 5.5 million barrels of crude and 2.2 million barrels of refined products for the full year.
North Korea has abundant coal but depends almost entirely on imports for oil and gas.
North Korean textile exports in 2016 totalled $750 million, according to South Korea's Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. It said nearly 80% went to China.
Russia urged calm on Friday after US President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "madman". Kim had called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" a day earlier after Trump said Washington would "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies.
Trump announced unilateral US sanctions on Thursday that would allow the targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said banks doing business in North Korea would not be allowed to operate in the United States.