Japan’s LNG imports fell in April for the second month in a row after posting a rise in the January-February period on high winter demand.
The world’s largest importer of LNG received 4.97 million tonnes of the fuel last month, down 4.3 percent when compared to the same month last year, according to the provisional data released by the country’s Ministry of Finance.
To remind, January LNG imports rose 7.3 percent to 8.06 million tonnes while February volumes increased 21.5 percent year-on-year reaching almost the same quantity as the month before. March imports dropped 1.1 percent to 7.12 million tonnes.
LNG imports in April cost Japan about $1.99 billion, down 19.1 percent year-on-year. Moreover, the average contract-based price for spot LNG cargoes shipped to Japan in April reached $8.30/mmBtu.
Looking at last month’s LNG shipments, deliveries from Asia from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia rose by 22.8 percent to 1.21 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments from sources like Qatar dropped by 22.3 percent to 0.5 million tonnes.
Additionally, shipments from Russia rose 17.1 percent to 460,000 tonnes while US deliveries increased 12.2 percent to 392,000 tonnes.