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The country’s LNG imports decreased to 4.66 million tonnes last month compared to 4.87 million tonnes in May 2024.
LNG imports also dropped compared to 5.37 million tonnes in the prior month and were the lowest this year.
The ministry’s data previously showed that Japan imported 65.8 million tonnes during April 2024-March 2025, up by 1.5 percent compared to the same period before.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation decreased in May compared to the same month last year.
The data shows that coal imports were down by 3.5 percent to 5.79 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $689 million for these imports, a drop of 30.6 percent compared to last year.
LNG import bill down
The May LNG import bill, which was about $2.79 billion, dropped by 10.1 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 May spot LNG cargoes were not disclosed.
This was also the case in February, March, and April.
The organization only publishes spot LNG prices in cases where two or more companies import spot LNG.
In January, the contract-based price was at $13.8/MMBtu, and the arrival-based price was at $14.2/MMBtu.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.99 million tonnes on May 4, down from 2.05 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 1.94 million tonnes on May 11, 1.98 million tonnes on May 18, 2.16 million tonnes on May 25, 2.26 million tonnes on June 1, 2.34 million tonnes on June 8, and 2.14 million tonnes on June 15.
Deliveries to Japan
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in May, deliveries from Asia dipped by 57.4 percent year-on-year to 641,000 tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments decreased by 0.3 percent to 463,000 tonnes in May.
Moreover, shipments from Russia rose by 36.9 percent to 497,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 4.1 percent to 473,000 tonnes in May.
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 five-month period of this year.
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’s LNG imports reached about 27.66 million tonnes during the five-month period, about 2.8 million tonnes more than China’s LNG imports.