Japan’s monthly LNG imports edge up

Japanese imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) edged up in September following a two-month decrease.

The provisional data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance shows that imports reached 6.5 million tons of LNG in September. This is 1 per cent up on the volumes imported into Japan in the corresponding month in 2019.

Compared to the previous month, when Japan imported 5.84 million tons, this was an 11.3 per cent increase.

The value of LNG imports in September reached $1.86 billion, 42.2 per cent down when compared to the corresponding month last year.

Deliveries from Asian sources such as Malaysia and Indonesia increased by 6.9 per cent, reaching 1.4 million tons. At the same time, imports of LNG from the Middle Eastern sources declined 14.8 per cent to 945,000 tons.

Data shows that Japan’s imports of Russian LNG jumped 61.8 per cent to 652,000 tons while imports of U.S. LNG jumped 25.5 per cent to 419,000 tons.

Imports of coal for power generation declined 6.6 per cent to 8.5 million tons in September 2020.