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Japanese trade

surplus fall 22.8 pc

TOKYO: Japan's trade surplus contracted 22.8 percent from a year earlier in March, and by 18.4 percent for the full financial year, the finance ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said dollar-denominated trade data on a customs-cleared basis showed the surplus was 10.69 billion dollars in March, compared with 13.85 billion dollars a year earlier.

In the year to March the surplus was 96.2 billion dollars compared with 117.94 billion dollars the previous year, the first time the surplus was below 100 billion dollars since the year to March 1992, when it was 88.23 billion dollars.

Japan's exports totalled 440.10 billion dollars, up 7.7 percent from the previous year, with imports at 343.89 billion dollars, up 13.4 percent.

The ministry said data for April would be released in yen-denominated terms in line with the Bank of Japan's similar move on the broader current account, which includes such items as trade in goods and services.

Japanese exports for the month of March were down 8.3 percent from a year earlier at 39.05 billion dollars, with imports easing 1.3 percent to 28.36 billion dollars, the ministry said.

The surplus with the United States in March plunged 35.6 percent from a year earlier to 3.28 billion dollars, with exports contracting 11 percent to 10.48 billion dollars and imports growing 7.8 percent to 7.2 billion dollars.

Japan's surplus with Asia fell 6.7 percent to 7.36 billion dollars. Exports declined 4.2 percent to 16.95 billion dollars and imports fell 2.2 percent to 9.59 billion dollars.

The surplus with the European Union shrank 25.1 percent to 2.08 billion dollars, on exports declining 9.7 percent to 6.29 billion dollars and imports expanding 0.5 percent to 4.21 billion dollars.

A finance ministry official told a briefing that Japan's dollar-based surplus extended its year-on-year decline for the ninth straight month as exports declined due to an ongoing offshore shift of production facilities.

Imports fell for the first time in 37 months, which the official attributed to the yen's sharp decline against the dollar. The average exchange rate fell to 105.35 yen against the dollar in March from 94.17 a year ago.

"It is premature to conclude that (the rising) trend in imports has changed with a single month decline," the official said. "We, rather, reckon that Japan's trade surplus is basically in a falling trend."

Automobile exports by value fell 20.7 percent year-on-year, with unit exports down 15.4 percent. Ship exports by value rose 25.8 percent.

The ministry said that in yen-denominated terms the March surplus was 1.13 trillion yen, down 12.4 percent from a year earlier. Imports rose 10.3 percent to 2.99 trillion yen, with exports up 2.3 percent at 4.11 trillion yen.

In the year to March, Japan's yen-based surplus declined 22.4 percent to 9.13 trillion yen, with exports rising 3.2 percent to 42.07 trillion yen and imports up 13.7 percent to 32.95 trillion yen.-AFP