China’s October gas imports climb 20 percent

Natural gas imports during the last month reached about 10.54 million tonnes, rising 20 percent compared to 8.79 million tonnes in October 2023, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.

China paid about $5.4 billion for gas imports last month.

During January-October, China’s gas imports reached 109.52 million tonnes, a rise of 13.6 percent year-on-year.

The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $54 billion for gas imports in January-October, up 5.6 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

China’s LNG imports

There is no official data for China’s LNG imports in October.

China reported a jump in its LNG imports in September.

The country received 6.84 million tonnes in September, up 21.7 percent year-on-year.

China’s increased LNG imports were attributed to higher gas consumption and pre-winter restocking, according to GECF.

During January-September, China imported 57.09 million tonnes of LNG, a rise of 11.9 percent year over year.

This also compares to 58.48 million tonnes China imported during January-September in 2021, which was a record year for China’s LNG imports with 78.93 million tonnes.

China’s LNG imports rose 12.6 percent in 2023, and the country overtook Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer.

The country received about 71.32 million tonnes in the January-December period last year.

China will probably remain the world’s largest LNG importer this year.

During January-September this year, China imported about 7.9 million tonnes more than Japan.