Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports fell 21.2 per cent in the April-September period on year to the lowest since at least 1979 when the comparison data is available, an official at the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered fuel demand as millions of people restricted their movements.
Japan, the world's fourth-biggest crude buyer, imported 67.95 million kilolitres (2.34 million barrels per day) of crude oil in the first six months of the fiscal 2020 year to March, the preliminary data showed.
For September, crude imports slumped 20.7 per cent from the same month a year earlier, to 2.34 million bpd (11.15 million kilolitres) of crude oil, the data showed.
Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas totalled 6.504 million tonnes last month, up 1.0 per cent from a year earlier.
Imports of thermal coal for power generation declined 6.6 per cent in September to 8.518 million tonnes, the data showed.
Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for last month, with volumes of crude, oil products and gasoline/naphtha in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in million tonnes; values in million yen.
