China LNG imports hit record in December

BEIJING (Reuters) -- China's liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports hit a record high in December, customs data showed on Monday, driven up as the country pushes towards cleaner fuels.

The world's No.2 economy shipped in 3.73 MMt of LNG in December, topping the previous record of 2.66 MMt in November and up from 2.10 MMt a year ago, the General Administration of Customs said.

China's government in 2014 launched a "war on pollution" to reverse the damage done by decades of untrammelled growth.

Trade flow data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that Australia and Qatar exported the most LNG to China in December.

Australia shipped 22 cargoes, equivalent to 1.5 MMt of LNG, according to that data, while Qatar exported 9 cargoes.

For the whole of 2016, China's LNG imports rose 32.8% to 26.06 MMt, China's customs data showed.

The nation's December diesel imports climbed 166.1% from the same month a year earlier to 110,000 t, while kerosene imports fell 2.3% on the year to 290,000 t.

Reporting by Meng Meng and Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Joseph Radford

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