China's imports of Russian LNG jump 29% so far this year while Beijing's trade with other countries decline

• China imported 29% more liquefied natural gas from Russia so far this year from a year ago.
• Beijing has spent $2.16 billion on the key fuel from Russia, the South China Morning Post reported.

In the first half of 2022, China imported 2.35 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Russia, a 28.7% increase compared to 2021.

The purchases totaled $2.16 billion, according to Chinese customs data compiled by the South China Morning Post. Russia has now overtaken Indonesia and the US to become China's fourth-largest liquefied natural gas supplier so far this year.

China's uptick in the key fuel from Russia comes as its imports from most other nations declined over recent months.

Imports from Australia — China's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas — fell by 28.8% during the first six months of 2022, and LNG imports from the US cratered by 76.1%, the SCMP reported.

The shifts in trade patterns come as Europe has been buying up US LNG as it looks for alternatives to Russian supplies in the wake of Moscow's war on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, shipments of Russian pipeline gas to China jumped 63.4% in the first half of the year, with Gazprom announcing on Tuesday that daily deliveries to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline hit a new record high.

Currently, Russia is the second-biggest provider of pipeline natural gas to China, behind Turkmenistan.

China imports more than half of the natural gas it uses, though overall demand has declined dramatically this year as the world's second biggest economy faces growth challenges.