TOKYO: Japan’s trade deficit has decreased 57.9 percent in January from a year before to 1,177.5 billion yen ($9.91 billion), as exports to the United States and China jumped while imports slid with crude oil prices diving worldwide, government data showed Thursday.
The value of exports surged 17.0 percent to 6,144.7 billion yen, up for the fifth straight month, as those of automobiles and semiconductor components grew, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Imports dropped 9.0 percent to 7,322.2 billion yen after an upturn in the previous month, with those of fossil fuels for thermal power generation — which has made up for the absence of nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis — falling, the ministry said. In January, imports of crude oil plunged 40.5 percent and those of liquefied natural gas plummeted 40.0 percent. Average oil prices fell 43.8 percent to $63.8 per barrel during the same month.
The holidays began from late January last year. Exports to the European Union, meanwhile, gained 7.4 percent to 656.3 billion yen, and imports decreased 3.1 percent to 678.5 billion yen. The figures were measured on a customs-cleared basis. The yen weakened 14.1 percent on year in January to an average of 119.27 to the U.S. dollar. A falling yen usually supports exports by making Japanese products cheaper abroad and boosts the value of overseas revenues in yen terms, but pushes up import prices.
