Japan Trade Surplus Shrinks for Seventh Month in a Row

Japan’s trade surplus shrank for the seventh straight month in November, squeezed by robust Japanese domestic demand, surging oil imports and a strong dollar, economists said Tuesday.

The surplus narrowed a hefty 46.2% to an unadjusted $3.53 billion in November from $6.56 billion a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported earlier in the day.

It was the largest decline since October, 1982, when the surplus shrank just over 54%. The surplus also fell from October’s $4.65 billion.

Exports dropped 2.9% from their year-earlier level to $22.03 billion, while imports climbed 14.8% to $18.50 billion, the ministry said.

“The basic continuing trend is that exports are a minus, while imports are growing by two-digit numbers,” said Soichi Enkyo, an economist at the Bank of Tokyo Ltd.

Japan’s surplus with the United States declined from year-earlier levels for the second consecutive month, falling 19.3% to $3.57 billion.

Imports from the United States, buoyed by increased purchases of aircraft, office equipment and nonferrous metals, grew 12.1% to $4.08 billion. Exports to the United States dropped 5.2% to $7.65 billion, largely because of falling auto shipments, ministry officials said.

As in recent months, booming demand in Japan has diverted some products that would ordinarily have gone to export markets to the domestic market, analysts said.

Ministry officials attributed the decline in the overall surplus mainly to growing imports of crude oil, both in value and volume terms.