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Data from China’s General Administration of Customs shows that the country received 76.65 million tonnes in 2024.
This compares to 71.32 million tonnes in 2023, which marked a rise of 12.6 percent year-on-year.
LNG imports in 2024 were lower than 78.93 million tonnes in 2021, which marked a new record high due to rising demand from the power generation and industrial sectors.
In December 2024, China’s LNG imports decreased by 13.9 percent year-on-year to 7.14 million tonnes.
GECF said in its monthly report that China’s LNG imports in December declined primarily due to rising spot LNG prices, which dampened demand, combined with mild winter weather and high LNG inventory levels.
Natural gas imports, including pipeline gas, reached about 11.55 million tonnes last month, down 8.6 percent compared to 12.64 million tonnes in December 2023, the data shows.
China’s pipeline imports rose 3.9 percent year-on-year in December to 4.41 million tonnes.
In 2024, China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, rose 9.9 percent to 131.69 million tonnes.
China remained the world’s largest LNG importer in 2024.
Official data for Japan’s LNG imports in December is not yet available.
However, Japan imported some 10 million tonnes of LNG less than China during the January-November period last year.