--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia(NEA) market last week, the front delivery fell to around $10.90. Despite the pause of the US reciprocal tariffs, the market was sold owing to the intensified trade war between the US and China.

The US Trump administration raised the additional tariff rate to 145% against China. This came after China raised tariffs to 84% against the US. As a result, more sources were worried about economic slowdown in China, and gas demand was not expected to recover that much worldwide. In fact, the consumer price index (CPI) for March released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on Apr 10 showed a decrease for the second straight month. China was trying to alleviate the influence of raising tariff by setting up the lowest Chinese Yuan in 19 months, but a Japanese company said, "We are worried that China might stimulate the US further, as the movement might be seen as manipulation of foreign currency."

Amid this, major South Korean steel manufacturer POSCO was reported to buy a cargo for May delivery at $11.50-11.70

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) bought one cargo delivered to the 5.00 mil mt/year Dhamra terminal on May 12-18 via a tender closed on Apr 9 at $11.00-11.10.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

US Energy Transfer on Apr 9 announced that it would jointly develop its 16.45 mil mt/year Lake Charles project with US MidOcean Energy. Under the deal, MidOcean would fund 30% of the project costs to receive about 5.0 mil of LNG from the project. In response to the announcement, a Japanese trading house said, "I doubt if MidOcean can really sell 5.00 mil of LNG."