China's May LNG Imports Up 43% on Year

China’s LNG imports in May continued to grow strongly year on year, and were also higher than April 2018 levels, data released June 23 by the country’s customs department showed.

The world’s second biggest LNG importer imported 4.15mn metric tons of LNG last month, up almost 43% year on year. Even month on month, China’s LNG imports were higher. In April, the country imported 3.39mn mn of LNG. Cumulative imports in January-May were 19.87mn mt, an increase of 54.6% from the same period a year ago.

Demand for natural gas has been rising since the start of 2017 which has resulted in sharp growth in imports of LNG. Last year, LNG imports to China were a record 38.13mn mt, up over 46% on year, according to the Chinese customs department, which meant that China edged ahead of South Korea to become the world's second largest LNG importing nation after Japan. 

According to a trade body Chinese 2017 imports were even higher at 39.01mn mt, up 42.3% year on year, and said that 10.2mn mt – or 26% of those imports – were loaded on to trucks at receiving terminals.