October 13, 2023 [LNG Prime]- China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, were flat in September compared to the same month last year, according to customs data.

Natural gas imports during the last month reached about 10.14 million tonnes, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.

Imports dropped compared to 10.85 million tonnes in the prior month.

Moreover, the country’s gas imports rose by 8.2 percent year-on-year to 81.10 million tonnes in January-September.

China paid about $49.7 billion for gas imports in this period, a drop of 5.8 percent compared to the last year.

There is currently no available data for LNG imports in September.

China’s LNG imports rose for the seventh month in a row in August, and the country imported 6.30 million tonnes in August, a rise of 34.1 percent year-on-year.

The country imported 45.51 million tonnes of LNG during January-August, up by 12.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

However, Chinese LNG imports fell last year due to due to very high spot LNG prices and Covid lockdowns, which affected economic activity.

LNG imports dropped compared to the January-August period in 2021 when China imported 51.81 million tonnes of LNG.

China has overtaken Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer in the first half of this year and the country increased its lead during July and August.

During the January-August period, Japan imported some 43.38 million tonnes, down by about 2.18 million tonnes compared to China’s 45.51 million tonnes.

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