China’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) hit a monthly record of 5.03 million tonnes in December, customs data showed, as purchases spiked to cover a surge in demand under Beijing’s push to replace coal with gas for households and factories.

December shipments came in 24 per cent ahead of November’s previous record of 4.056 million tonnes, and were up 35 per cent from a year earlier, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

Full-year imports jumped 46 per cent compared with 2016 to a record 38.13 million tonnes, according to the customs data, overtaking South Korea as the world’s second-largest buyer for the fuel after Japan.

Beijing’s drive to heat millions of homes and power thousands of factories in northern China with gas has caused a spike in demand, leading companies to pull in cargoes from suppliers as diverse as Nigeria, Angola and Norway.

Meanwhile the data showed aviation fuel exports rose 7.9 per cent to a record 1.69 million tonnes from December 2016 – when the previous record of 1.57 million tonnes was set – and 17 per cent from 1.45 million tonnes in November.