China has ceased to buy liquefied natural gas in the United States after imposing a 15% rate on these expeditions on February 10, according to ship’s monitoring data, in the last sign that Beijing continues to decing about the American economy.
Chinese LNG imports from the United States had already dropped at low levels from November to January, according to data from the Chinese customs agency. Rather, China has expanded its purchases from Russia, which provided China four times more LNG last year than the United States.
Only two LNG cargos in the United States went to China when Beijing imposed prices on American fossil fuels in retaliation for the first initial cycle of 10% of prices on Chinese products. A ship reached China before the prices took effect and discharged its cargo while the other went to Bangladesh to avoid the price, according to KPLER, a Belgian energy data company.
The boycott of natural gas from Europe from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 noted that Russian gas is sold very little, while European companies have considerably paid gas, including the United States. Chinese public electricity services were therefore able to buy a lot of low-cost gas from Russia instead of the United States.
Chinese energy companies were large LNG buyers in the United States, but brought this fuel in China very little before the price even took effect. Instead, Chinese companies have sent their purchases to American ports to sell in Europe.
