Japan logs record trade deficit in January

TOKYO: Japan logged a record trade deficit in January, data showed Monday, as fuel imports rose to meet energy needs after last year's nuclear disaster while demand in debt-wracked Europe slumped.

The January deficit came in at 1,475 billion yen ($18.5 billion), the highest since records began in 1979, the finance ministry said.

The latest figure was triple the year-before shortfall of 479.4 billion yen and far exceeded the previous record of 967.9 billion yen registered in January 2009 during the financial crisis.

Japan's overall exports tumbled 9.3 percent to 4,510 billion yen in January on lower shipments of semiconductors and other electronic devices.

The country's exporters are struggling to cope with the strong yen, which reduces their repatriated income and makes their products more expensive abroad.

Imports surged 9.8 percent to 5,985 billion yen, with purchases of liquefied natural gas shooting up 74.3 percent, crude oil up 12.7 percent and coal up 26.5 percent.

Japan incurred an annual trade deficit for the first time in more than three decades in 2011.

"The trade deficit is likely to continue for the time being" if the yen and demand for fossil fuel for thermal power plants stay strong, said Satoshi Osanai, economist at Daiwa Institute of Research.

Europe's debt woes have also dealt a blow to Japanese trade, he said.

"The US economy is underpinning (Japanese) exports, as seen in higher US-bound shipments of automobiles, but demand from Europe is weak," he said.

Japan's surplus with the European Union in January dived 98.9 percent to 700 million yen as exports of cars and electronic parts plunged.

With the United States, Japan's trade surplus fell 7.6 percent to 265.3 billion yen.

Japan logged a trade deficit of 357.1 billion yen with the rest of Asia, the first shortfall in three years. It ran a record deficit of 587.9 billion yen with its biggest trading partner China, due partly to Lunar New Year celebrations there.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012