Japan registered its largest-ever monthly trade deficit of ¥1.6294 trillion in January as costs of fossil fuel imports surged with the yen sliding sharply, despite a moderate recovery in exports, the government said Wednesday.
The value of imports rose 7.3 percent year on year to ¥6.4286 trillion, up for the third straight month, as oil product and liquefied natural gas imports jumped 33.7 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report, noting the deficit was the largest among comparable figures available since January 1979.
The deficit with China, Japan's biggest trading partner, hit a record ¥654.6 billion against a backdrop of rising imports of communications devices such as smartphones and electronic parts, including semiconductors.