(March 3): China’s liquefied natural import (LNG) gas imports fell to a five-year low last month, on weak demand and higher European prices luring cargoes there.

Inward shipments were at 4.5 million tonnes for the month, according to Kpler data, resulting in China coming in behind Japan as the biggest importer for the second month in a row. Asia’s largest economy took the least LNG since early 2020, when Covid-19 shut down many factories and curbed demand, forcing Chinese buyers to declare force majeure.

It’s been a relatively warm winter in China, and there are ample supplies in storage and industrial demand is fairly low, said Wei Xiong, head of China gas research at Rystad Energy. The brimming inventories are likely to continue to weigh on imports through the end of the heating season, she said. 

Some Chinese gas firms have been reselling spot cargoes over the past few months to take advantage of more attractive prices abroad, particularly in Europe. The Binhai LNG terminal in Jiangsu province in China reexported a shipment last month to the Boryeong facility in South Korea, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The terminal also reexported cargoes in January and December.

Reselling activity is expected to remain high in 2025, following the imposition of the 15% tariff by China on US LNG, Xiong said.

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