Japan posts trade surplus in November for 3rd consecutive month

Japan posted trade surplus for the third consecutive month in November, with both exports and imports value declining from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday.

The country's trade surplus stood at 152.51 billion yen (1.29 billion U.S. dollars) in November, showed preliminary statistics released Monday by the Ministry of Finance.

In November, Japan's exports value fell 0.4 percent on year to 5.96 trillion yen, down for 14 months in a row, and imports value declined 8.8 percent on year to 5.80 trillion yen, down for 23 months in a row.

Last month, exports value to China, Japan's major trading partner, rose 4.4 percent on year to 1.10 trillion yen, and imports value from China slid 9.9 percent on year to 1.49 trillion yen.

In the same period, Japan's exports to the United States shed 1.8 percent to 1.21 trillion yen, while imports from the United States went down 5.1 percent to 630.12 billion yen.

Japan's exports to the European Union fell 2.2 percent to 633.26 billion yen in the period, while imports from the region tumbled 13.3 percent to 716.95 billion yen. Endit