On September 9, 2026, the fuel oil front-month contract settled at ¥3,999/t, up 2.72%—its highest level since August 19. Concurrently, Brent rose 2.96% to $100.82/bbl and WTI gained 2.68% to $95.52/bbl. Yet fuel oil outperformed crude: the Brent-equivalent spread widened to ¥392/t (converted at USD/CNY 6.71), indicating non-cost-driven upward pressure. SNSUC Research Institute attributes this to structural regulatory tightening: first, the second batch of 2026 non-state-owned trade import quotas for refined products was allocated on August 31, with total volume down 8.7% YoY; fuel oil-specific quotas accounted for only 12.4% of the batch and were preferentially allocated to entities with verifiable ESG carbon footprint certification. Second, Shanghai, Qingdao, and Ningbo customs implemented the new ‘Guidelines for Authenticity Verification of Offshore Re-sales’ effective September 1, mandating full blockchain-anchored logistics evidence (including bill-of-lading hash, customs manifest timestamp, and KYC verification of overseas consignees) plus cross-border fund loop documentation covering ≥30 days. Per SNSUC platform data, average document re-submission time for fuel oil offshore transactions rose to 17.3 hours in early September (up 6.8 hours MoM); first-pass compliance rate fell to 87.1%, down 5.3 percentage points MoM. Notably, asphalt (+1.95%) and natural rubber (+1.57%) did not rally in tandem—confirming the regulatory focus is selectively concentrated on energy commodities’ authenticity traceability, not broad-based commodity oversight. For buyers, with only ~180,000 tonnes of fuel oil import quota remaining (per GACC’s September 5 notice), we recommend locking in ESPO or Dubai fuel oil offshore warehouse receipts for late-September delivery and initiating SNSUC’s pre-clearance carbon footprint verification (reducing average customs time by 11.2 hours). For exporters, blockchain traceability must be anchored no later than 72 hours pre-shipment to avoid tax refund delays. The policy signal is unambiguous: authenticity verification has evolved from formal compliance to tri-dimensional validation—process traceability, fund verifiability, and carbon flow auditability.