Japan’s April LNG imports dip

Japan recorded a drop in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in April, according to the Ministry of Finance’ preliminary data.

According to the data, Japan’s total LNG imports reached 5.13 million tons in April 2020. This is an 8.8 per cent drop compared to April 2019 volumes, when Japan imported 5.62 million tons.

April 2020 imports have been valued at $2.49 billion, 14.2 per cent down on the corresponding month in 2019.

The data shows that imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States soared 152.6 per cent up to 349,000 tons. Imports from Asian sources such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Brunei slipped 33 per cent to 990,000 tons.

Liquefied natural gas imports from the Middle Eastern sources dropped 30 percent to 661,000 tons in April 2020, with imports of LNG from Russia dropping 2.7 percent to 393,000 tons.

The country’s coal imports for power generation stood at 9.13 million tons, rising 8.1 percent from the corresponding month in 2019.