According to Banchero Costa, “in terms of imports, the top destination for LPG in Jan-Sep 2026 was still Mainland China, accounting for 18.6% of global imports. Imports to China declined by -28.1% y-o-y in Jan-Sep 2026 to 18.8 mln tonnes. Imports to the EU declined by -3.3% y-o-y in Jan-Sep 2026 to 16.3 mln t. The EU accounted for 16.0% of global seaborne LPG imports. Volumes into India declined by -26.4% y-o-y to 12.2 mln tonnes. Imports to Japan were essentially unchanged at -0.1% y-o-y at 7.2 mln tonnes in the same period. Imports to South Korea in Jan-Sep 2026 declined -15.5% y-o-y to 5.3 mln t. Let’s now focus on the United States, which is now the largest exporter of LPG in the world, accounting for 55.4% of global volumes in Jan-Sep 2026”.

“As already mentioned above, LPG exports from the USA in Jan-Sep 2026 increased by +6.3% y-o-y to 56.9 mln tonnes. This followed a +6.1% y-o-y increase in 2025, a +11.1% y-o-y increase in 2024, and a +15.0% y-o-y increase in 2023. Top LPG loading ports in the United States in Jan-Sep 2026 were: Houston (24.4 mln t in Jan-Sep 2026), Beaumont (16.2 mln t), Freeport (6.9 mln t), Marcus Hook (5.1 mln t), Corpus Christi (1.6 mln t), Ferndale (1.1 mln t), Geismar (0.5 mln t), Paulsboro (0.3 mln t). 79.6% of volumes in Jan-Sep 2026 were loaded on VLGCs (70+ cu.m.), with 4.8% on LGCs (25-70k cu.m.), 11.2% on MGCs (13-25k cu.m.), and 4.3% on SGCs (0-13k cu.m.). Surprisingly, given the ongoing political tensions, the major destination of American LPG is still Mainland China. Mainland China accounted for 16.4% of the USA’s total seaborne LPG exports in Jan-Sep 2026, well down from the 29.5% peak of 2024. Volumes on this route went through the roof in the first half of the decade, but have corrected sharply since”, the shipbroker said.

It added that “whilst LPG trade from the USA to China grounded to a halt in 2019 (it was just 0.3 mln tonnes!), already in 2020 the United States emerged as the number one supplier of LPG to China with 6.2 mln tonnes. This went up to 6.9 mln t in 2021 (+11.9% y-o-y), 9.2 mln t in 2022 (+32.7% y-o-y), 16.3 mln t in 2023 (+77.2% y-o-y), and a peak of 19.7 mln t in 2024 (+20.5% y-o-y). In 2025, however, volumes from the USA to China fell by -39.9% y-o-y to 11.8 mln t, and in Jan-Sep 2026 they declined by a further -7.2% y-o-y to 9.3 mln t. In second place is the European Union, which accounted for 12.0% of USA LPG exports in Jan-Sep 2026. In Jan-Sep 2026, the USA exported 6.8 mln tonnes of LPG to the EU, down -13.7% y-o-y. This followed a +24.8% y-o-y increase in 2025, and a +20.7% y-o-y increase in 2024. The USA also exported 6.8 mln t to Japan in Jan-Sep 2026, up +17.8% yo-y, and 4.8 mln t to South Korea, down -14.3% y-o-y. Shipments to India surged by +282.1% y-o-y to 4.7 mln tonnes, whilst volumes to Indonesia rose by +20.8% y-o-y to 4.4 mln t”, Banchero Costa concluded. Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide