Japan booked a trade deficit of 993.9 billion yen ($10.4 billion) in May for the 11th consecutive month of loss amid the yen’s fall and growing imports from China, the government said Wednesday.

Overall imports jumped 10 per cent to 6.76 trillion yen for the seventh straight month of year-on-year rise, while exports climbed 10.1 per cent to 5.77 trillion yen for the third straight month of increase, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.

Petroleum imports rose 6.4 per cent from a year earlier to 1.11 trillion yen and those of telecommunication equipment rose 58.6 per cent to 219.6 billion yen, the ministry said.

Fossil-fuel imports have grown for thermal power generation after utilities shut down nuclear reactors following Japan’s worst atomic disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The yen’s fall also contributed to the trade deficit, by driving up import costs. The Japanese currency has fallen about 20 per cent against the US dollar since November.

Imports from China, Japan’s largest trading partner, rose 14.6 per cent from a year earlier to 1.46 trillion yen, the largest ever, and the trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy jumped 34.5 per cent to 410 billion yen in May, for the 15th consecutive month of trade loss.

Shipments to the United States jumped 16.3 per cent to 1.04 trillion yen with car exports rising 13.1 per cent, while imports also climbed 10.2 per cent to 614.1 billion yen.

Exports to the European Union declined 4.9 per cent to 529.1 billion yen for the 20th consecutive month of year-on-year fall amid the eurozone debt woes while imports rose 8.7 per cent to 88.7 billion yen.

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