Japan logged a record trade deficit of ¥6.93 trillion in 2012, up 2.7-fold from the previous year, as exports shrank amid the territorial dispute with China and Europe's sovereign debt crisis while fossil fuel imports soared, the government said Thursday.
The previous record deficit was ¥2.61 trillion, set in 1980 during the second oil crisis, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
The balance of trade in goods remained in the red for the second consecutive year.