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The country’s LNG imports decreased to 5.15 million tonnes last month compared to 5.55 million tonnes in March 2024.
LNG imports also dropped compared to 5.87 million tonnes of LNG in February and 6.64 million tonnes of LNG in January.
The ministry also released data for the fiscal year which ended in March. Japan imported 65.8 million tonnes during April 2024-March 2025, up by 1.5 percent compared to the same period before.
On the other hand, Japan’s coal imports for power generation increased in March compared to the same month last year.
The data shows that coal imports were up by 8.8 percent to 8.31 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $1.14 billion for these imports, a drop of 9.9 percent compared to last year.
LNG import bill down
The March LNG import bill, which was about $3.28 billion, dropped by 11.6 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 March spot LNG cargoes were not disclosed. This was the case in February as well.
The organization only publishes spot LNG prices in cases where there are two or more companies that imported spot LNG.
In January, the contract-based price was at $13.8/MMBtu, and the arrival-based price was at $14.2/MMBtu, according to JOGMEC.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.98 million tonnes on March 2, up from 1.93 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 1.78 million tonnes on March 9, 1.56 million tonnes on March 16, 1.82 million tonnes on March 23, 2.23 million tonnes on March 30, 2.13 million tonnes on April 6, and 2.13 million tonnes on April 13.
Deliveries to Japan
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in March, deliveries from Asia rose by 6.6 percent year-on-year to 1.40 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments increased by 4.5 percent to 651,000 tonnes in March.
Moreover, shipments from Russia rose by 10.8 percent to 639,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 63.5 percent to 119,000 tonnes in March.
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 two months of this year.
During January-February, China imported 10.60 million tonnes, a decrease of 19.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan’s LNG terminals took about 12.51 million tonnes during January-February, up by about 1.91 million tonnes compared to China.
During January-March, Japan’s LNG imports reached about 17.66 million tonnes, while official data for China’s LNG imports in March is not yet available.
China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, dropped by 14.9 percent last month compared to March 2024.