Asia Pacific: Trade

China has received Northeast Asia’s first LNG cargo from the United States, supporting the country’s growing volumes, however, total imports into Northeast Asia will fall in 2016.

China’s LNG imports are expected to reach record levels in 2016 after falling year on year in 2015. China is forecast to import around 23 mt of LNG this year, a 15% rise from last year. This growth is expected to be achieved despite LNG imports declining by 17% year on year in July, to 1.6 mt. One of the reasons for the fall was the high level of imports in July 2015, when volumes reached 1.9 mt. New LNG regasification capacity has opened this year, which will help bring the country’s total LNG import capacity to around 46 mtpa. LNG has also been making inroads because of competitive pricing, which is supporting offtake in key regions, such as Guangdong.