Soft China dampens Asia LNG demand while Europe's imports ease: Russell

Asia's LNG imports stagnate in May as Europe's demand eases, impacting global supply and prices significantly.

Asia's imports of liquefied natural gas stagnated in May while Europe's continued to ease as demand in both of the world's top-importing regions entered the seasonal slump between winter and summer peaks.

Imports of the super-chilled fuel to Asia are on track to reach 22.53 million metric tons in May, up from 21.89 million in April, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler.

However, it's worth noting that this actually represents a small drop on a per day basis, with May's 727,000 tons fractionally less than April's 730,000.

Compared to the year earlier month, Asia's arrivals are down 4.5%, continuing the pattern of softer demand seen so far in 2025.

For the first five months of the year Asia imported 112.45 million tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), down 6.2% from the 119.83 million for the same period in 2024.

Blame for the decline can largely be attributed to China, the world's biggest LNG importer, where volumes have slipped this year amid high spot prices that have rendered LNG uncompetitive against domestic output and natural gas supplied via pipelines from central Asia and Russia.

China's LNG imports are expected to drop to 4.61 million tons in May, down from 4.86 million in April, and the weakest on a per day basis since March 2020, according to Kpler data.