According to provisional data, LNG imports surged in 2018 in China (+38%) and South Korea (+17%), while Japanese LNG imports slightly decreased (-0.9%). Japan remained the world's largest LNG importer in 2018, followed by China and South Korea.
In Japan, domestic power utilities are progressively restarting nuclear reactors that had been shut in the wake of the Fukushima atomic disaster in 2011, boosting nuclear power generation and reducing the need for LNG imports. Despite the drop in LNG import volumes, the LNG import bill reached US$43bn in 2018, as import costs rose by 21%.
Since China is still implementing policies to progressively phase out coal-fired power generation and to replace coal with gas for power generation and residential heating purposes, LNG imports continued to rise in 2018. China became the world's second largest LNG importer in 2017, overtaking South Korea. The trend is likely to continue and China could overtake Japan and become the world's largest LNG importer.
Finally, South Korea is turning away from nuclear to the advantage of gas and renewable power generation and will continue to import massive amounts of LNG. In 2018, Qatar remained the dominant source of South Korean imports with 14.2 Mt (+23%), followed by Australia (7.9 Mt), the United States (4.6 Mt) and Oman (4.3 Mt). The average LNG import costs also rose by 26.5% in 2018.