Asia’s top LNG importers are boosting purchases for November, drawing more cargoes than Europe, where inventories were well below average. Ship-tracking data showed about 17.77 million tons of LNG are set to arrive in China, Japan, and South Korea this month. That would represent an increase of 15.41 million tons in October and would mark the highest monthly imports by the three East Asian countries.
China is projected to import 7.37 million tons of LNG this month, the highest since January and up from 6.19 million tons in October. Around 6.04 million tons of LNG are slated to arrive in Japan in November, up from 5.19 million in October but down from 6.3 million in November 2020. South Korea is forecast to import 4.36 million tons of LNG this month, rising from 4.07 million tons in October and 3.86 million tons in November last year.
In contrast, LNG imports by South Asian countries have fallen amid record high spot prices. India’s LNG imports are on track to drop to 1.51 million tons in November, the lowest since April 2020 and compared to 2.33 million tons arrived in October. Pakistan is expected to import 700,000 tons of LNG this month, decreasing from 730,000 in October. Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s November imports are estimated to decline to 360,000 tons in November from October’s 530,000 tons.
Meanwhile, Europe’s total LNG imports for November are estimated at 7.23 million tons, down from October’s 7.28 million tons but up from 6.2 million tons in November 2020. However, it would be well below 8.56 million tons imported in November 2019 before the pandemic.
