Tokyo, 16 June, /AJMEDIA/
Japan logged its second largest ever monthly goods trade deficit of 2.38 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) in May, remaining in the red for the 10th consecutive month mainly due to high commodity prices, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The trade deficit in May widened from 839.2 billion in the previous month and was the second largest after a 2.80 trillion yen deficit recorded in January 2014, according to the ministry.
The value of imports increased 48.9 percent to 9.64 trillion yen, shattering the highest figure on record for the third consecutive month, while exports rose 15.8 percent from a year earlier to 7.25 trillion yen for the 15th straight month of increase, the ministry said in a provisional report.
Imports were boosted by higher prices of energy resources, such as petroleum from the United Arab Emirates, coal from Australia, and liquefied natural gas from Australia and Malaysia, a ministry official said.
Driven by rising energy prices resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, imports of petroleum rose in value for the 14th consecutive month to 1.07 trillion yen and increased in terms of volume for the seventh straight month to 12.2 million kiloliters.
Exports rose on the back of brisk iron and steel shipping, refined fuel products such as fuel oil to Singapore, and semiconductor components, the official said.