According to the ship tracking data provided by refinitiv, in December 2019, China imported 7.198 million tons of liquefied natural gas, an increase of 16% on a month-on-month basis, setting a new import volume. Over the same period, Japan imported 6.574 million tons, up 7% month on month. For the second month in a row, China surpassed Japan to become the world's largest LNG importer.

Wood Mackenzie, an energy research firm, predicts that in terms of annual imports, China will overtake Japan as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas in 2022.