The country’s LNG imports increased to 5.84 million tonnes last month compared to 5.29 million tonnes in October 2024.
LNG imports also rose compared to 5.15 million tonnes in the prior month, which decreased by 5 percent year-on-year.
According to GECF, Japan’s LNG imports in October were driven by pre-winter restocking efforts.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation also increased in October compared to the same month last year.
The ministry’s data shows that coal imports were up by 9.6 percent to 9.31 million tonnes.
LNG import bill down
The October LNG import bill, which was about $3.04 billion, dropped by 0.9 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC said in its preliminary report last week that the average price of spot LNG cargoes for delivery to Japan contracted in October 2025 and scheduled to be delivered from the month onward (contract-based price) was $11.1/MMBtu.
Moreover, the average price of spot LNG cargoes that were delivered in Japan within the month of October 2025 regardless of the month when the contracts were made (arrival-based price) was $11.5/MMBtu.
The contract-based and arrival-based prices were both at $11.7/MMBtu in September.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.87 million tonnes on October 5, up from 1.82 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, LNG inventories stood at 1.90 million tonnes on October 12, 2.13 million tonnes on October 19, 1.97 million tonnes on October 26, 1.98 million tonnes on November 2, 1.96 million tonnes on November 9, and 2.23 million tonnes on November 16.
Deliveries
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in October, deliveries from Asia rose by 44.6 percent year-on-year to 1.60 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments increased by 18.8 percent to 563,000 tonnes in October.
Moreover, shipments from Russia decreased by 2.4 percent to 538,000 tonnes, while US deliveries dropped by 13.7 percent to 447,000 tonnes in October.
China and Japan
Japan, the world’s second-largest LNG importer, took 65.89 million tonnes of LNG last year, down 0.4 percent year-on-year, while China remained the top LNG importer and its imports increased by 7.7 percent to 76.65 million tonnes last year.
However, Japan took over the spot of the world’s largest LNG importer from China this year.
During January-October this year, China imported 53.15 million tonnes of LNG, a decrease of 16.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
Japan imported approximately 0.60 million tonnes more than China during the period.