The data from the General Administration of Customs shows that natural gas imports reached 10.63 million tonnes in July.
This compares to 10.86 million tonnes in July 2024 and 10.54 million tonnes in June 2025.
June marked the first monthly year-on-year rise for China’s gas imports this year.
China’s gas imports reached 70.14 million tonnes in January-July, down 6.9 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
The country paid $31.7 billion for these imports, down 14.2 percent year-on-year.
The customs data previously showed that China’s natural gas imports rose by 9.9 percent to 131.69 million tonnes in 2024, while LNG imports increased by 7.7 percent to 76.65 million tonnes last year.
Official data for LNG imports in July this year has not yet been released.
During January-June, China imported 30.11 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 20.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
It is worth mentioning here that Japan overtook China in the first six months of this year as the world’s biggest LNG importer.
