1st LD Writethru: Japan posts trade deficit for 5th straight year in 2015 as imports slump

Japan posted a trade deficit in 2015 for the fifth successive year, although the deficit shrank by 77.9 percent from the previous year to 2.83 trillion yen (23.9 billion U.S. dollars), as import costs dropped owing to the global oil glut and slumping prices, government data showed Monday.

According to a preliminary report from the Finance Ministry, exports climbed 3.5 percent to 75.63 trillion yen, in the recording year from a year earlier, on robust deliveries of vehicles to the U.S., while imports retreated 8.7 percent to 78.46 trillion yen, the latest annual figures showed.

The ministry noted that imports of crude oil dropped 41 percent and those of liquefied natural gas (LNG) retreated 29.5 percent, with the figures highly significant as costs for shipping in fossil fuels from overseas largely impact the trade balance, more-so in the wake of Japans nuclear power plants being taken offline after the earthquake-triggered tsunami disaster in 2011.

Exports to the U.S. expanded 11.5 percent in the recording year to 15.22 trillion yen, while imports grew 6.8 percent to 8.05 trillion yen, the ministry said. Exports to Europe, meanwhile, also increased, expanding 5.3 percent to 7.99 trillion yen and imports were up 5.6 percent to 8.62 trillion yen.

China-bound exports declined, however in the year, slipping 1.1 percent to 13.23 trillion yen, but imports from Asia's largest economy increased 1.3 percent to 19.42 trillion yen, the ministry said.

In the month of December, the trade surplus stood at 140.2 billion yen (1.18 billion U.S. dollars), with the ministry saying that exports dropped 8.0 percent from a year earlier to 6.34 trillion yen, while imports fell 18.0 percent to 6.20 trillion yen, on a customs-cleared basis. Enditem