Japan logged a trade deficit of 1.02 trillion yen ($ 10.2 billion) in July, the 13th consecutive month of loss, amid the yen’s fall and growing fossil fuel imports, the Government said on Monday.
Overall imports jumped 19.6 per cent to 6.99 trillion yen, making the ninth straight month of year-on-year rises, while exports grew 12.2 per cent to 5.96 trillion yen for the fifth straight month of increases compared to the same periods last year, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Imports from China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, rose 18.3 per cent from a year earlier to 1.49 trillion yen, the largest ever. The country’s trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy jumped 53.3 per cent to 386.4 billion yen in July, for the 17th consecutive month of loss.