The country’s LNG imports rose 10.4 percent year-on-year to 5.62 million tonnes last month, the data shows.
LNG imports rose compared to 4.57 million tonnes in June, which marked a slight rise year-on-year.
Also, Japan imported 4.87 million tonnes in May, 5.28 million tonnes in April, 5.55 million tonnes in March, 6.02 million tonnes in February, and 6.1 million tonnes in January.
During the first half of this year, Japan’s LNG imports decreased by 0.7 percent to 32.4 million tonnes, while coal imports for power generation dropped by 7.1 percent to 45.8 million tonnes.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation rose in July compared to the last year.
Coal imports were down by 10.9 percent to 9.58 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $1.61 billion for these imports, a drop of 7.9 percent compared to the last year, the data shows.
LNG import bill climbs
The July LNG import bill of about $3.69 billion increased by 19.6 percent compared to the same month last year.
During January-June, Japan paid $19.8 billion for LNG imports, down 9.9 percent year-on-year.
Earlier this month, state-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) published the monthly spot LNG prices for delivery to Japan in July.
The average price of spot LNG cargoes for delivery to Japan contracted in July was $12.1/MMBtu
The average price of spot LNG cargoes that were delivered in Japan within the month of July regardless of the month when the contracts were made (arrival-based price) was not disclosed as there were less than two companies that imported spot LNG.
Also, the confirmed figures for June 2024 were not changed from the preliminary figures, with the contract-based price not disclosed and the arrival-based price at $10.0/MMBtu, JOGMEC said.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation as of July 7 stood at 1.99 million tonnes, down from 2.10 million tonnes from the previous week.
Inventories were at 2.20 million tonnes on July 14, 2.35 million tonnes on July 21, 2.14 million tonnes on July 28, 1.91 million tonnes on August 4, 1.98 million tonnes on August 11, and 1.92 million tonnes on August 18, according to METI.
Deliveries to Japan
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in July, deliveries from Asia increased by 29 percent to 1.53 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments rose by 14.8 percent to 435,000 tonnes in July.
Moreover, shipments from Russia decreased by 63.9 percent to 94,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 1.6 percent to 637,000 tonnes in July.
Second largest LNG importer
China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s top importer of LNG last year.
China’s LNG imports rose 12.6 percent to about 71.32 million tonnes in the January-December period, and the country imported some 5.17 million tonnes of LNG more than Japan in 2023.
During January-July this year, China imported 43.83 million tonnes of LNG, a rise of 11.9 percent year-on-year
Japan imported some 5.8 million tonnes of LNG less than China during the January-July period.
