China's February Imports Rise Steeply

After importing a near record amount of natural gas in January, China’s natural gas imports (LNG and pipeline-gas equivalent) in February continued its sharp increase.

China imported 6.94mn metric tons of natural gas in February 2018, up almost 41% year on year, according to data published March 8 by China’s customs department. In January natural gas imports were 7.77mn metric tons, up 33% on year. Asia’s biggest economy set a record in December 2017 when it imported all time high 7.89mn metric tons of gas.

China’s gas imports have been trending higher since the start of 2017 as the government pushed households and industries to switch from coal to gas.

During full year 2017, Chinese gas imports totalled 68.57mn mt, up 27% year on year. That included record Chinese LNG imports of 38.13mn mt, up over 46%, making it the new number two LNG importer ahead of South Korea, but still lagging Japan.