TOKYO: Japan's liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports fell 6.2 percent in the fiscal year ended March 31 from a year earlier to 83.571 million tonnes, preliminary trade data showed on Wednesday, marking the first drop in six years as some nuclear reactors restarted.
The decline was also the first since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, following a massive quake in 2011, drove purchases to successive records.
Thermal coal imports rose 1.7 percent to a record high 112.139 million tonnes, while crude oil imports climbed 2.9 percent to 3.42 million barrels per day (199.211 million kilolitres), customs-cleared data by the Ministry of Finance showed.
Japan, the world's fourth-biggest crude buyer, imported 4.17 million barrels per day (20.542 million kilolitres) of crude oil last month, up 15.9 percent, marking the second-straight month of gains, the data showed.
Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas totaled 8.149 million tonnes last month, up 0.1 percent from a year earlier. Imports of thermal coal for power generation declined 3.0 percent in March to 9.203 million tonnes, the data showed.
Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for last month and 2015/16, with volumes of crude, oil products and gasoline/naphtha in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in million tonnes; values in million yen.
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