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China plans to resell its first US LNG cargo via re-export
The plan is designed to avoid a 25% tariff by keeping the cargo in bonded storage rather than importing it, even as June LNG imports rose 8.3% year over year to 5.68 million tons.
China’s buyers that received the first US LNG shipment to land in China in more than a year are planning to resell the cargo on another market, according to sources cited by OilPrice and reported by Bloomberg.
The cargo was offloaded into bonded storage at the Yangpu port in south China without being imported, because importing would have triggered a 25% tariff. An empty tanker has recently docked at Yangpu, likely to load the gas for re-export, based on vessel-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg.
The move suggests China is not willing to pay the tariff to restart imports of US liquefied natural gas, even as LNG demand has supported flows elsewhere. OilPrice notes that China’s LNG imports rebounded in recent weeks amid higher seasonal demand despite the Middle East war affecting some regional exports.
China increased its LNG imports for a second straight month in June as it prepared for peak summer power demand. Imports jumped 8.3% from a year earlier to 5.68 million tons, according to official customs data cited by OilPrice.
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