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As Trump tariffs continue to pull markets down, Asian spot LNG prices are still at a 6-month low.

The Asian spot price of liquefied gas (LNG), which is a product of the United States, remained at its lowest level for nearly six months as President Trump's "liberation" day tariffs caused global markets to fall amid fears about a global economic recession.

Average LNG price for delivery to North-east Asia in May The price per million British Thermal Units (mmBtu) remained at $13, the same as last week, and is now the lowest since October 11, according to industry sources.

Alex Froley is a senior LNG analyst with data intelligence firm ICIS. He said that fears of slower economic growth would also impact energy prices.

Around the world, countries threatened to retaliate for Trump's tariffs.

China announced an additional 34% tariff on U.S. products on Friday. This is the most significant escalation of a trade war that has worsened between Beijing and Washington.

Klaas Dzeman, a market analyst with Brainchild Commodity Intelligence, said: "This is not the ideal environment for China to be confronted with unseen import duties of up to 34%, and 24-26% for India. South Korea, Japan and South Korea."

He said that "the widely held opinion is this will harm the global trade and industry production, reducing demand for LNG further."

Froley, of ICIS, said that earlier tariffs had already affected U.S. LNG exports to China. Since February 6, no cargoes have arrived in China.

On Friday afternoon, gas prices in Europe fell to their lowest levels in more than six months in response to the sharp drop in oil and stock markets.

Martin Senior, the head of LNG prices at commodities pricing agency Argus, said that hedge funds with exposure to commodities and equities, as well as oil, sold gas on Thursday in order to de-risk portfolios. Oil and equities were also down.

He added that "stop losses" were also activated when TTF (Dutch Title Transfer Facility) prices fell below certain thresholds. This exacerbated losses.

Analysts said that the European Union is prepared to counter Trump's tariffs by implementing countermeasures. However, they added that Europe had no other choice than to continue importing U.S. LNG and ruled out retaliatory duties on this commodity.

The tariffs had an indirect effect on the dollar, which weakened against other currencies. This meant that U.S. gas cargoes were becoming cheaper than those from other countries. Dozeman explained that this increased the incentive for Europe's LNG buyers to purchase more U.S. Gas to maximize the filling of storage in the months to come.

S&P Global Commodity Insights estimated its daily North West Europe (NWM) LNG Marker price benchmark on April 3 at $12.071/mmBtu for cargoes to be delivered in May ex-ship. This represents a $0.75/mmBtu reduction from the gas price for May at the Dutch TTF Hub.

Spark Commodities set the April price for delivery at $12.044/mmBtu. Argus based its assessment on the May price of $12.07/mmBtu.

Qasim Afghanistan, Spark Commodities analyst, says that the arbitrage between North-East Asia and Europe via Cape of Good Hope is continuing to encourage U.S. cargoes being delivered to Europe.

On Friday, the LNG market saw a drop in the Atlantic rate for the second consecutive week, to $23,500/day. Meanwhile, the Pacific rates increased to $26,750/day.

(source: Reuters)