China Shuns Costly LNG Imports Even as Summer Power Demand Rises

Bloomberg · last updated July 8, 2025 – 4:55 AM

Sweltering temperatures are pushing up appetite for electricity in China — just not yet enough to revive the country’s spot purchases of costly liquefied natural gas.

Traders hoping for a recovery in spot LNG deals had been watching for a surge in summer demand along China’s eastern seaboard. Scorching heat has indeed created those spikes, except that cheap coal, higher-than-usual inventories of power-station fuels and a continued increase in renewable capacity have filled the gap and limited the risk of seasonal blackouts.

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