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The country’s LNG imports rose to 5.37 million tonnes last month compared to 5.28 million tonnes in April 2024.
LNG imports also rose compared to 5.15 million tonnes in the prior month. Imports were lower compared to 5.87 million tonnes of LNG in February and 6.64 million tonnes of LNG in January.
The ministry’s data previously showed that Japan imported 65.8 million tonnes during April 2024-March 2025, up by 1.5 percent compared to the same period before.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation decreased in April compared to the same month last year.
The data shows that coal imports were down by 2.7 percent to 7.44 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $935 million for these imports, a drop of 29.1 percent compared to last year.
LNG import bill up
The April LNG import bill, which was about $3.32 billion, rose by 1.8 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC said in a report last week that the contract-based price and the arrival-based price for April spot LNG cargoes were not disclosed. This was the case in March and February as well.
The organization only publishes spot LNG prices in cases where two or more companies import spot LNG.
In January, the contract-based price was at $13.8/MMBtu, and the arrival-based price was at $14.2/MMBtu.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 2.12 million tonnes on April 6, down from 2.23 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 2.13 million tonnes on April 13, 2.12 million tonnes on April 20, 2.05 million tonnes on April 27, 1.99 million tonnes on May 5, 1.94 million tonnes on May 11, and 1.98 million tonnes on May 18.
Deliveries to Japan
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in April, deliveries from Asia rose by 15.1 percent year-on-year to 1.50 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments decreased by 9 percent to 582,000 tonnes in April.
Moreover, shipments from Russia rose by 22.2 percent to 352,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 56.3 percent to 191,000 tonnes in April.
China and Japan
Japan, the world’s second-largest LNG importer, took 65.89 million tonnes of LNG last year, down 0.4 percent year-on-year, while China remained the top LNG importer and its imports increased by 7.7 percent to 76.65 million tonnes last year.
However, Japan imported more LNG than China in the January-April of this year.
During January-April, China imported 20.06 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 22.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan’s LNG imports reached about 23 million tonnes during the four-month period, about three million tonnes more than China’s LNG imports.