Japan posts trade surplus for 7th straight month

TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo -
Japan posted a trade surplus for the seventh straight month in August as
imports continued to fall sharply on a plunge in crude oil prices from a year
earlier, outpacing the decline in exports, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The surplus was 185.7 billion yen against a deficit of 314.2 billion yen the
year before, but the balance of the surplus continued to fall for the second
consecutive month, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
Exports fell 36.0 percent from a year earlier to 4,511.1 billion yen, and
imports shrank 41.3 percent to 4,325.4 billion yen.
Though the pace of decline in exports has slowed compared with steep falls
logged earlier this year, the situation is far from exports making a V-shaped
recovery, a ministry official said.
Auto exports fell 50.0 percent on weak demand from Russia and the United
States. Steel product and mineral-fuel shipments were also sluggish.
Imports continued to fall sharply, reflecting a plunge in raw materials prices
from their record-high levels a year earlier. The import decline in August was
led by oil, liquefied natural gas and coal products.
Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital Japan Ltd., said the sharp
slowdown in exports is likely to become moderate within a few months due to the
easing effects of the global economic slump, triggered by the collapse of the
U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last September.
''The sustainability of pick-ups in exports is now tested,'' Morita said,
adding that he believes another serious slump in exports is unlikely due to
expected recovery in the economy of major trade partners, the United States and
China.
By region, Japan's trade surplus with the United States fell 26.7 percent to
272.9 billion yen, down for the 24th straight month.
Exports to the world's largest economy fell also for the 24th month in a run,
while imports shrank 38.4 percent to 440.2 billion yen.
Japan's trade surplus with the rest of Asia shrank 30.2 percent to 695.0
billion yen, down for the 12th straight month, as Japan posted a trade deficit
with China for the second straight month.
Japan's trade deficit with China totaled 46.1 billion yen against a trade
surplus of 7.1 billion yen a year earlier.
Exports to Asia, outside of Japan, fell 30.6 percent to 2.58 trillion yen,
while imports slid 30.7 percent to 1.88 trillion yen.
The trade surplus with the European Union plunged 86.5 percent to 44.8 billion
yen. Exports plummeted 45.9 percent to 514.3 billion yen and imports decreased
24.2 percent to 469.6 billion yen.
Trade figures are measured on a customs-cleared basis before adjustment for
seasonal factors.
The ministry official said it would be important to closely check the effects
of the dollar's recent sharp depreciation against the yen in trading.
The dollar averaged 94.97 yen in August, down from 108.23 yen a year earlier.
The dollar fell further, exchanging hands around the 91 yen level early
Thursday.
==Kyodo