# JKM (Japan/Korea Marker), Asia's LNG Spot Benchmark
> The JKM (Japan/Korea Marker), assessed daily by S&P Global since 2009, is the benchmark price for LNG spot cargoes delivered to Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan.

**Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads:  · 5 takes · 1 lenses · 3 regions

## What it is

The JKM (Japan/Korea Marker) is the benchmark spot price for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes delivered ex-ship (DES) to Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan. S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts) has assessed it daily since 2009, using a Market on Close (MOC) process that closes at 4:30pm Singapore time; the price is quoted in US$ per million British thermal units (MMBtu). The four named markets together absorb roughly 55-60% of global LNG supply, making JKM the world's most consequential LNG price reference. It is the Asian counterpart to Henry Hub (US natural gas) and TTF (European gas hub price).

CME Group and ICE list JKM-referenced swap and futures contracts; the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) offers a yen-denominated equivalent launched in 2019. Key buyers are Japanese utilities JERA and Tokyo Gas, South Korea's KOGAS, China's CNOOC, and Taiwan's CPC Corporation. Principal suppliers are Australia, Qatar (QatarEnergy), the United States (Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi), and Russia (Sakhalin-2).

## History

Before JKM, Asian LNG pricing was opaque. Japan pioneered LNG imports in 1969 and through the 1970s locked supply under 20-to-25-year contracts indexed to crude oil via the Japan Crude Cocktail (JCC) formula; spot trade barely existed. Platts launched JKM in 2009 as a journalistic reference with thin liquidity. The 2011 Fukushima disaster was the turning point: Japan's sudden need to replace 30% of its electricity generation with LNG pushed spot procurement sharply higher, and utilities began anchoring contracts to the new assessment. JKM reached roughly US$20/MMBtu by 2012.

New Australian and US export capacity reaching market between 2015 and 2019 created a global supply glut; JKM drifted to around US$4-5/MMBtu by 2019. COVID demand destruction in spring 2020 briefly pushed the marker below US$2/MMBtu, its historic low. After Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Asian and European buyers competed for the same flexible cargoes, driving JKM to its all-time record of US$84.76/MMBtu on 7 March 2022. Market rebalancing through 2023-2025 brought it down; the IEA estimates the 2025 average at just above US$12/MMBtu, roughly double the 2016-2020 five-year average.

## Current state

As of early July 2026, JKM traded between approximately US$15 and US$19/MMBtu through June. An early-June spike toward US$19, driven by Australian strike threats and Middle East supply anxiety, faded as buyers in Japan, South Korea, and China pulled back, leaving the marker near US$15.74 by late June (see [亚洲液化天然气价格随战争溢价消退从19美元跌向15美元](/zh/n/jkm-asia-lng-summer-2026)). The IEA's Q2-2026 report notes JKM in early 2026 running 27% below year-ago levels, with global LNG output expanding more than 7% in 2026 and North America providing more than 85% of the increase. Asian LNG imports are expected to recover more than 6% in 2026 after a weak 2025, led by China, India, and Southeast Asian markets.

## Relationships

JKM's closest companion is TTF, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility that serves as Europe's main gas hub price. When the two converge, US LNG cargoes can sell to either market at roughly equal netback; the JKM-TTF spread is the main signal for trans-oceanic cargo routing. Henry Hub (the US natural gas benchmark) sets the floor cost for American LNG: at JKM around US$15-19/MMBtu versus Henry Hub near US$3/MMBtu in mid-2026, the spread sustains new US export investment.

Australia is JKM's largest swing supplier; a strike call or tropical cyclone at an Australian facility immediately reprices the benchmark. Qatar's North Field expansion, targeting an additional 48 million tonnes per annum of capacity by decade's end, is the largest forthcoming addition to JKM supply. Chinese spot buying is the key demand swing: a month of heavy Chinese procurement can tighten balances across all of Northeast Asia.

## What to watch

- Whether North American supply growth (Golden Pass, LNG Canada) and Qatari North Field expansion hold JKM below US$15/MMBtu through 2026-2027.
- The JKM-TTF spread as the real-time signal for where US flexible cargoes route and which hemisphere sets the marginal LNG price.
- Chinese buying patterns: China's domestic gas production growth and periodic re-export behaviour will determine how much of the North American supply wave Asia absorbs.
- The pace at which Japan and South Korea migrate from oil-indexed JCC contracts to JKM-linked agreements, which would deepen the marker's influence.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### official record
- **S&P Global Commodity Insights** (Global, en) — S&P Global's own description of the JKM assessment, covering its geographic scope (Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan), Market on Close methodology, and role as the reference price in Asian LNG contracts and derivatives.
  Source: https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/pricing-benchmarks/assessments/lng/jkm-japan-korea-marker-gas-price-explained
- **S&P Global Platts LNG Specifications (April 2026)** (Global, en) — The formal methodology document governing how Platts assesses JKM and other LNG benchmarks, including cargo specifications, delivery windows, and normalization rules applied in the Market on Close process.
  Source: https://www.spglobal.com/content/dam/spglobal/ci/en/documents/platts/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/lng/lng-specifications.pdf
- **IEA Gas Market Report, Q2-2026** (Global, en) — The International Energy Agency's Q2-2026 quarterly assessment, tracking JKM price trends, Asian LNG import volumes, and the impact of accelerating North American supply growth on global LNG pricing through 2026.
  Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/gas-market-report-q2-2026
- **CME Group** (United States, en) — CME Group's listing page for the LNG Japan/Korea Marker (Platts) swap, a cash-settled derivative used globally for hedging and speculation against the daily JKM spot assessment.
  Source: https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy/natural-gas/lng-japan-korea-marker-platts-swap.html
- **Japan Exchange Group (JPX)** (Japan, en) — JPX's LNG futures product page, covering the yen-denominated JKM-based contract launched in 2019, enabling Japanese utilities and trading houses to hedge LNG exposure on a domestic exchange.
  Source: https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/derivatives/products/energy/lng-futures/index.html

## Across the graph
- Related: [[jkm-asia-lng-summer-2026]]
- Entities: Commodity:jkm, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, Qatar

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