China is not buying LNG on the spot market despite a seasonal increase in demand for electricity for air-conditioning, Bloomberg has reported, noting traders had been hoping for a price jump in spot LNG. It seems, however, from China’s perspective, spot LNG is already quite expensive.
“We expect that China’s LNG imports will remain weak in the second half of the year, amid subdued demand, higher piped gas imports and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook,” International Energy Agency gas analyst Gergely Molnar told the publication.
Meanwhile, natural gas deliveries via pipeline from Russia are set to jump by 25%, the report also said, suggesting China was being price-sensitive. This, according to the IEA’s Molnar, will not last long because China needs to fill its gas storage ahead of winter, and it will return to the LNG spot market to do that.
China’s LNG imports have been trending lower since early this year, with purchases of U.S. LNG suspended entirely amid the tariff spat that President Trump initiated as a means of fixing the United States’ trade deficit with most trade partners. Besides that, a milder winter, weak industrial demand, and higher gas pipeline imports are set to result in the first decline in China’s LNG imports since 2022, according to analysts.
In the first four months of 2025, Chinese imports of the super-chilled fuel slumped to 20 million tons, down from 29 million tons for the same period of 2024. Even if there is a rebound in demand in the latter half of 2025, China is still set for an annual decline in LNG purchases, analysts say.
This is good news for Europe, which, unlike China, has no access to ample pipeline supply of natural gas from Russia—and it does not want to have such access. Europe has bet heavily on LNG and is paying the price. Now, with Chinese demand weaker, that price might moderate, which would be very welcome news to European gas importers.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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