LNG imports to China decline for eight consecutive months

According to Kpler's ship tracking data, liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to China continued to decline year-over-year in June. The organization estimates that this month's imports of the fuel to China may total about 5 million metric tons. If this forecast is confirmed, the decrease in the indicator against the same period of 2024 will amount to 12%.

As noted by Bloomberg, such a reduction could be caused by an increase in pipeline gas supplies and the build-up of domestic production. Also, the import volumes were affected by mild weather during the winter, which contributed to maintaining high levels of fuel reserves, and lower industrial demand in the country.

On the back of these factors, China's annual LNG imports are expected to decline for the first time since 2022.

Last year, China imported 76.65 million metric tons of LNG. For this year, according to estimates cited by Reuters, the volume of LNG imports into the country is set to be 6–11% lower. The decline is anticipated even if demand shows some recovery through the rest of 2025.