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The country’s LNG imports decreased to 5.35 million tonnes last month compared to 5.72 million tonnes in August 2024.
However, LNG imports rose slightly compared to 5.26 million tonnes in the prior month, which dropped by 6.3 percent year-on-year.
The ministry’s data previously showed that Japan imported 32.14 million tonnes during the first six months of this year, down by 0.8 percent year-on-year.
Moreover, Japan’s coal imports for power generation rose in August compared to the same month last year.
The data shows that coal imports were up by 13.7 percent to 10.5 million tonnes.
LNG import bill down
The August LNG import bill, which was about $3.09 billion, dropped by 16.4 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC did not disclose the arrival-based price or the contract-based price for August spot LNG cargoes in a report last week.
The organization only publishes spot LNG prices in cases where two or more companies import spot LNG.
The average price of spot LNG cargoes for delivery to Japan contracted in July 2025 and scheduled to be delivered from the month onward (contract-based price) was $12.9/MMBtu.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.94 million tonnes on August 3, up from 1.80 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 1.96 million tonnes on August 10, 2.02 million tonnes on August 17, 2.18 million tonnes on August 24, 2.01 million tonnes on August 31, 1.81 million tonnes on September 7, and 1.76 million tonnes on September 14.
Deliveries
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in August, deliveries from Asia dropped by 7.4 percent year-on-year to 1.16 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments rose by 9.7 percent to 855,000 tonnes in August.
Moreover, shipments from Russia dropped by 33.2 percent to 391,000 tonnes, while US deliveries rose by 7.6 percent to 413,000 tonnes in August.
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 this year.
During January-July this year, China imported 35.51 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 18.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan imported about 1.89 million tonnes more than China during the period.
China’s official data for August LNG imports is not yet available.
