Japan’s LNG imports up in January

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Japan rose during the first month of 2021.

Provisional data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance shows that Japan imported a total of 8.06 million tons of LNG in January 2021.

This is a 7.3 per cent jump compared to the volumes imported during the corresponding month in 2020.

Compared to the previous month, this is a 4.4 per cent increase.

The value of January LNG imports reached $3.45 billion, 20.21 per cent up from the value of LNG imported in the month prior.

Deliveries from Asian sources such as Malaysia and Indonesia slipped 16.3 per cent, to 1.71 million tons. At the same time, imports of LNG from the Middle Eastern sources increased by 10.4 per cent to 1.42 million tons.

Data shows that Japan’s imports of Russian LNG edged up 2.1 per cent to 953,000 tons while imports of U.S. LNG shot up 136.4 per cent to 553,000 tons.

Imports of coal for power generation jumped 10.8 per cent to 10.6 million tons in January 2021.