Japan’s May LNG imports down, coal up

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by world’s largest consumer of the chilled fuel, Japan dropped 4 percent in May when compared to the same month a year ago, provisional data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed on Monday.

Japan’s imports in May decreased to 5.52 million mt of LNG while the country’s coal imports for power generation rose 44 percent to 8.61 million mt, the data showed.

According to the data, Japan paid about US$1.75 billion for LNG imports in May, down 42 percent on year.

Japan’s price of spot LNG cargoes arriving in May reached $4.3 per mmBtu on DES basis, reaching its lowest point since Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) started publishing monthly reports in March 2014.

The price of contract-based spot LNG cargoes for May was $4.1 per mmBtu, METI said.

 

LNG World News Staff