Japan Runs a 20-Day Trade Deficit

Japan posted an unusual trade deficit for the first 20 days in January but government officials and economists said Thursday that the figures probably did not indicate a trend.

Japan reported a $518-million deficit for the interim January period against a surplus of $990.8 million a year earlier.

The 20-day trade figures swung to a deficit as imports surged 45.5% to $9.05 billion, outpacing an 18.3% rise in exports to $8.53 billion.

“The figures are not as significant as may seem,” said economist Richard Jerram of Kleinwort Benson International Inc. January data is always furthest from usual trends, he said. Exports also were probably suppressed because of the Japanese holidays, Jerram said.

Japan reported a deficit for the 20-day trading period in January, 1986. But trade for the full month of that January later showed a surplus. The last time Japan posted a trade deficit for the full month of January was in 1984.

Jerram said he expects that when the full-month figures are reported, they will show Japan with a surplus of $2.8 billion. That would be sharply down from $4.3 billion a year earlier and would mark the ninth straight monthly decline in Japan’s trade surplus.