Japan reports LNG imports rise in December 2020

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Japan increased during the last month of the year 2020.

Provisional data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance shows that Japan imported a total of 7.72 million tons of LNG in December 2020.

This is a 13.4 per cent jump compared to the volumes imported during the corresponding month in 2019.

Compared to the previous month, LNG imports jumped 28.29 per cent. To remind, Japan imported a total of 6..02 million tons of LNG in November 2020.

The value of December LNG imports reached $2.87 billion, 42 per cent up from the value of LNG imported in the month prior.

Deliveries from Asian sources such as Malaysia and Indonesia rose 26.2 per cent, reaching 1.8 million tons. At the same time, imports of LNG from the Middle Eastern sources increased by 4.7 per cent to 1.3 million tons.

Data shows that Japan’s imports of Russian LNG jumped 11.6 per cent to 750,000 tons while imports of U.S. LNG shot up 66 per cent to 674,000 tons.

Imports of coal for power generation slipped down 13.8 per cent to 9.2 million tons in December 2020.