Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has reported that the average price of spot-LNG imported into Japan that was contracted in February 2015 fell to US$7.6/million Btu, compared to US$10.2/million Btu in January.
Spot LNG cargoes that had been booked earlier and arrived into Japan in February averaged US$10.7/million BTU, compared to US$13.9/million Btu in the previous month.
The spot price of LNG has been steadily falling in Japan since the METI set up the monthly survey of spot prices in March 2014, when the contracted price was US$18.3/million Btu.
According to reports from Reuters, Japan imported record volumes of LNG in January 2015, and February imports are expected to have been close to this level. However, overall demand in Asia has been weaker, particularly in South Korea and China.
Edited from various sources by Callum O'Reilly