China imported record quantities of Russian liquefied natural gas and steelmaking coal in September, as total purchases of energy products topped $50 billion since the invasion of Ukraine pushed Moscow to expand sales to its strategic ally,
Bloomberg reports.
Coking coal imports from Russia jumped to 2.5 million tons in September, from about 900,000 tons in the same month last year and 1.9 million tons in August, according to Chinese customs data. LNG sales rose by a third from a year ago to 819,000 tons, despite a 12% decline in China’s overall purchases of the super-chilled fuel. China hasn’t reported imports via pipelines, the main conduit for Russian gas, since the start of the year.
Crude oil imports from Russia were at 7.5 million tons last month, compared with 8.3 million tons in August and 6.1 million tons a year ago, with Saudi Arabia leapfrogging Russia as China’s top supplier.
