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The country’s LNG imports decreased to 4.73 million tonnes last month compared to 5.05 million tonnes in November 2024.
LNG imports also dropped compared to 5.84 million tonnes in the prior month, which rose by 10.5 percent year-on-year.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation increased in November compared to the same month last year.
The ministry’s data shows that coal imports were up by 2.9 percent to 8.67 million tonnes.
LNG import bill down
The November LNG import bill, which was about $2.56 billion, dropped by 17.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC said in its preliminary report last week that the average price of spot LNG cargoes for delivery to Japan contracted in November 2025 and scheduled to be delivered from the month onward (contract-based price) was $11.2/MMBtu.
Moreover, the average price of spot LNG cargoes that were delivered in Japan within the month of November 2025 regardless of the month when the contracts were made (arrival-based price) was $10.9/MMBtu.
The confirmed figures for October 2025 were not changed from the preliminary figures, with the contract-based price at $11.1/MMBtu, and the arrival-based price at $11.5/MMBtu, JOGMEC said.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.98 million tonnes on November 2, up from 1.897 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 1.95 million tonnes on November 9, 2.24 million tonnes on November 16, 2.13 million tonnes on November 23, 2.07 million tonnes on November 30, 2.18 million tonnes on December 7, and 2.15 million tonnes on December 14.
Deliveries
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in November, deliveries from Asia dropped by 19.6 percent year-on-year to 1 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments decreased by 13.9 percent to 409,000 tonnes in November.
Moreover, shipments from Russia decreased by 6.8 percent to 446,000 tonnes, while US deliveries dropped by 26.5 percent to 385,000 tonnes in November.
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 took over the spot of the world’s largest LNG importer from China in the first ten months of this year.
China’s official data on November LNG imports are not yet available, but the country increased its gas imports in November.
During January-October this year, China imported 53.15 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 16.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan imported approximately 0.60 million tonnes more than China during the period.