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The country’s LNG imports decreased to 4.44 million tonnes last month compared to 4.57 million tonnes in June 2024.
LNG imports also dropped compared to 4.66 million tonnes in the prior month and were the lowest this year.
The ministry’s data also shows 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 decreased in June compared to the same month last year.
The data shows that coal imports were down by 10.7 percent to 6.03 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $690 million for these imports, a drop of 36.7 percent compared to last year.
LNG import bill down
The June LNG import bill, which was about $2.55 billion, dropped by 10.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC said in a report last week that the contract-based price and the arrival-based price for June spot LNG cargoes were not disclosed.
This was also the case in February, March, and April, while the contract based-price is May was at 12.3/MMBtu.
The organization only publishes spot LNG prices in cases where two or more companies import spot LNG.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 2.26 million tonnes on June 1, up from 2.16 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 2.34 million tonnes on June 8, 2.14 million tonnes on June 15, 2.27 million tonnes on June 22, 2.14 million tonnes on June 29, 1.90 million tonnes on July 6, and 1.88 million tonnes on July 13.
Deliveries
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in June, deliveries from Asia rose by 7.8 percent year-on-year to 962,000 tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments decreased by 21.1 percent to 356,000 tonnes in June.
Moreover, shipments from Russia dropped by 54.5 percent to 251,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 46 percent to 272,000 tonnes in June.
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 imported more LNG than China in the first five months of this year.
China has not yet released official data for LNG imports in June.
During January-May, China took 24.86 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 23.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan imported about 2.8 million tonnes more than China during the period.