In the period of January to October 2022, global LPG exports increased by +3.8% y-o-y to 116.7 mln tonnes, up from 112.4 mln tonnes in the same period last year, according to Banchero Costa report. Total seaborne exports of LPG in 2021 declined by -4.5% year-on-year to 135.6 mln tonnes (excluding cabotage), according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv.
Exports from the Middle East surged by +22.3% y-o-y in Jan-Oct 2022 to 35.7 mln tonnes.
From the United States, volumes increased by +9.7% y-o-y to 43.0 mln tonnes in the same period. From the rest of the world supply declined this year. From the North Sea (Norway+UK) exports were down by -24.2% y-o-y, from North Africa it’s been -7.6% y- o-y, from West Africa -3.5% y-o-y, from ASEAN -19.1% y-o-y.
Demand this year has been generally positive everywhere except for Mainland China.
In Jan-Oct 2022, LPG imports to India increased a very healthy +12.0% y-o- y to 15.6 mln tonnes.
Imports to Japan also surged by +9.3% y-o-y to 8.8 mln tonnes in the same period. Imports to South Korea in Jan-Oct 2022 also managed to increase significantly. Korea imported 7.6 mln tonnes of seaborne LPG, which was a +13.1% increase y-o-y. On the other hand, Mainland China performed poorly in Jan-Oct 2022, with LPG imports falling by -2.3% y-o-y to 20.4 mln tonnes.
In the first 10 months of 2022, the EU imported 18.2 mln tonnes of LPG, which was a +5.5% y- o-y increase from 17.2 mln t in the same period of last year. The EU remains the second top importer after China also this year.
The main source of LPG for Europe is the USA, which accounts for 33.5% of European imports.
In the first 10 months of 2022, LPG imports from the USA to the EU surged by +54.8% y-o-y to 6.1 mln t. A further 21.4% of the EU’s seaborne imports were sourced from other EU countries.
Other suppliers of LPG to the EU include Algeria with 2.7 mln tonnes in Jan-Oct 2022, -11.7% y-o-y. Lower volumes come from Norway with 2.2 mln tonnes, -27.4% y-o-y. Further down the list is the United Kingdom with 1.3 mln tonnes shipped to the EU in Jan-Oct 2022, down -23.5% y-o-y.
Volumes from Russia increased in Jan-Oct 2022 to 0.6 mln tonnes, up +30.2% y-o-y.
Given the large share of cross- European trade and import volumes from short haul sources such as Norway, Russia and North Africa, it is not surprising that European LPG shipping uses often smaller sized tonnage.
Out of the 18.2 mln tonnes imported into the EU in Jan-Oct 2022, only 26% (4.7 mln t) were carried on VLGCs, 32% (5.8 mln t) were carried on medium size tonnage, and 42% (7.7 mln t) on small size tonnage.