Asia is attracting more LNG cargoes as spot prices remain low and Europe enters the injection season with a plump storage cushion.

While Europe’s liquefied natural gas imports dropped 20% to 9.05 million tons (Mt) last month, Asia’s jumped 12% to 24.3 Mt, according to Kpler data. China, Japan and South Korea led the region’s imports during March.

Strong storage inventories, lackluster demand and mild weather have held global natural gas prices down most of the year. 

The European market was closed Friday and Monday for the Easter holiday, but Dutch Title Transfer Facility prices have held near $9/MMBtu amid competition with Asia for supplies. 

However, more LNG is expected to land in Asia in the coming weeks given European storage capacity that is 59% full, or well...