The nation's trade surplus in the first half of the year dropped 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 6.057 trillion yen as overall exports plunged, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
It was the first decline in the surplus in merchandise trade since the second half of 1996.
The politically sensitive trade surplus with the U.S. rose 4.2 percent year-on-year to 3.2 trillion yen, an increase for the sixth consecutive half-year term. But contentious steel and iron exports nosedived 52.5 percent.