China might overtake Japan as the world's largest LNG importer, as China is already on a path in post-pandemic recovery while Japan’s economy is still slumping. LNG imports in Japan fell at 4.5 million tons, an 11-year low in May, less than China’s 5.6 million tons in the same period. China projected to import 5.4 million tons in June while Japan 5 million tons.
Rystad’s Head of Gas and Power Markets Research Carlos Torres Diaz said that along with China’s elevating regasification capacity planning this year and ahead on the recovery path, there is a probability China is having higher total imports by the end of this year. The 2020 China is forecasted to surpass Japan at 80.1 million tons compared to 74.3 million tons and this condition will persist until 2025.
Japan has acclaimed the position for decades and the recent change will ripple into major changeover in the world’s energy markets.
The official import data for May has not been released yet by China, but another data sourced that China’s monthly LNG imports in November 2019 has exceeded Japan. The demand for imported energy has been lowering down as ageing population in Japan increases and the nuclear reactors have been restarted, and lastly as the coronavirus hit, the demand fell further, whine China’s outbreak has curbed and the government are urging people to change their energy source from coal to natural gas as a way to cut pollution.
Japan’s June imports are predicted to 36.1 million tons and China’s at 30.8 million tons, but the gap had the chances to be more narrow.
