China LNG Import Plummets in July as Customs Clearance Delayed
According to China’s General Administration of Customs, China’s LNG import was 5.03 million tons in July, plummeted by 13.10% from June but still remained around 4% annual growth. The month on month crash was mainly caused by the delayed customs clearance documents of over 7 cargoes at the end of the month, and SCI estimated the actual arrival of the month was 5.5 million tons.
China’s PNG import remained at lows in July at 2.31 million tons, down 8.95% M-O-M and 23.23% Y-O-Y, for a fifth dropping month in a row and also the lowest piped gas import level since 2017’s March. It is heard from an unconfirmed source that CNPC will maintain the low piped gas import at CAP in the summer season and only turn up in the winter heating season.
In July, the import cost of LNG slightly rose to $341.40/mt, up 4.67% from June and $120.10/mt but still down 21.75% from last July. The PNG import cost also slightly rose to $307.88/mt, up 2.22% from June but down 14.82% from last July.
The mysteriously missing import volume of July between the shipping data and import data is expected to show in the August’s Customs data, just like what happened in CGAC’s May and June statistics. Thus, it is evaluated that China’s monthly LNG import level is largely stable at around 5.3-5.5 million tons from April to August. Supported by the global supply glut, low import price and the motivated buyers, it is expected that China’s LNG import will remain at highs in the rest summer season, but the uncertainty at the end of the ENSO that weather this winter will be warm or cold still challenges China’s winter LNG import.
