The World's Biggest Human Migration Is a Boon for Fuel Consumption
- Societe Generale sees Chinese new year travel lifting demand
- Bank sees 88% of transit via roads, boosting gasoline use
Chinese travellers wait for the train to set off as they head to their hometown for the Lunar New Year. a total of 42 million individual voyages by air and 258 million one-way train journeys are taken over the period that started Jan. 24 this year.
Photographer: Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty ImagesMore than a billion people will travel for China’s new year holiday in the world’s largest human migration, boosting fuel demand in the nation’s own driving season, according to Societe Generale SA.
The Chinese will make about 3.2 billion individual trips by road during the 40-day period known as Chunyun, which this year marks the change in the zodiac from sheep to monkey, the bank said in a report Thursday. The travel, which for many in the nation will represent the only annual trip home, spurs a “significant” increase in gasoline demand, analysts including Mark Keenan said in the note.