China’s May LNG imports up 19 percent

China, the world’s largest energy consumer, boosted its imports of liquefied natural gas by 19 per cent in May.

LNG imports totalled 5.23 million tonnes last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

In the January-May period, the country imported 25.48 million tonnes of chilled fuel, a year-on-year rise of 7 per cent.

On the other side, China’s pipeline gas imports dropped 16.6 per cent to 2.61 million tonnes.

In the five-month period, piped imports reached 4.75 million tonnes, down 30 per cent, the data shows.

China is currently the world’s second-largest importer of LNG behind Japan but this could change this year.

Japan’s May LNG imports dropped almost 19 per cent to 4.51 million tonnes as the Covid-19 pandemic stopped economic activity.

This represented an 11-year low in monthly volumes and a fifth monthly drop in volumes this year.