Japan records trade deficit in August for second consecutive month

Japan has posted a 754.1 billion yen (9.62 billion dollar) trade deficit in August for the second consecutive month of loss. The deficit was below the year-earlier figure of 777.5 billion yen, but it widened from July’s 528.9 billion yen, Japan’s Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. Exports fell 5.8% from the same month last year to 5.05 trillion yen for the third straight month of year-on-year decline amid a global economic slowdown and the yen’s rise, while imports dropped 5.4% to 5.8 trillion yen, the ministry said. Exports to the European Union plunged 22.9% to 477.9 billion yen for the 11th consecutive month of year-on-year decline, while those to other Asian countries, including China, fell 6.7% to 2.84 trillion yen, which accounted for 56.3% of Japan’s total shipments. Shipments to China, Japan’s biggest trade partner, dropped 9.9% to 966.3 billion yen and its trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy rose 4.9% from a year earlier to 241.9 billion yen for the sixth consecutive month of loss, the ministry said. But exports to the United States jumped 10.3% to 886.9 billion yen for the 10th straight month of year-on-year increase with auto-part shipments rising 39.5% and those of construction machines up 60.7%.