The trade surplus ballooned 95.5 percent to 200.5 billion yen in August from the previous year, logging its first increase in three months due mainly to brisk auto exports to the United States, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The uptrend in exports stretched into its 33rd month, rising 17.7 percent to 6.14 trillion yen, the ministry said in a preliminary report. Imports continued upward as well, rising 16.1 percent to a record-high 5.94 trillion yen.
Crude oil imports climbed 32 percent to 1.14 trillion yen, the third-highest level since May 1981, at an average record-high price of $71.8 per barrel on a customs-cleared basis, up 29.4 percent from last August.