China’s gas imports down in January-February

Natural gas imports reached 20.31 million tonnes during the first two months of this year, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.

The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $11.31 billion for these gas imports, down 13.8 percent compared to 2024.

The Administration releases combined import data for January and February due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

China’s natural gas imports rose by 9.9 percent to 131.69 million tonnes in 2024, the data previously showed, while LNG imports increased by 7.7 percent to 76.65 million tonnes last year.

Official data for just LNG imports in January-February this year has not yet been released.

GECF’s January report showed that China’s January LNG imports fell to their lowest level since July 2024, driven by reduced heating demand from warmer temperatures and high spot LNG prices.

Its worth mentioning here that China said last month it would impose tariffs of 15 percent on imports of coal and LNG from the US after President Donald Trump imposed a tariff on goods from the country.

This includes tariffs of 15 percent on imports of coal and LNG as well as 10 percent tariffs on crude oil.