The nation posted a goods trade deficit for the fifth straight month in August, the government said Thursday, partly reflecting a drop in exports to China amid a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
The deficit in value terms shrank 40.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥569.7 billion as imports were pushed down by lower crude oil prices, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Exports grew 3.1 percent to ¥5.88 trillion for the 12th straight monthly increase, due largely to the yen's depreciation and increased vehicle exports to the United States. They decreased 4.2 percent on a volume basis.