Japan's LNG imports drop 19% in April

According to provisional data released by Japan's finance ministry on May 18, the country's LNG imports in April totaled 4.53mn metric tons, marking an 18.7% decline compared with the same period last year.

On a month/month basis, imports were down 20.8%. The data further revealed that Japan's LNG imports cost 421.99bn yen ($3.06bn) in April, representing a significant 24.8% decrease year/year.

In 2022, Japan surpassed China to reclaim its position as the world's largest LNG importer. Its LNG imports for the year stood at 71.99mn mt, down 3.1% year/year.