Japan’s Global Trade Surplus Drops for First Time in 4 Years : Asia: Decline was due largely to surge in imports. Goods surplus alone reached a record high.

Japan’s worldwide trade surplus in goods and services shrank slightly in 1994 for the first time in four years, but the goods surplus alone reached a record high, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

The politically sensitive worldwide current account surplus, which tracks trade in both merchandise and services, fell 1.6% to $129 billion. The decline was largely due to surging imports and increased Japanese travel abroad.

“We think the current account surplus is basically on a downward trend,” said a Finance Ministry official who briefed reporters.

Japan’s global surplus in merchandise trade alone rose 3% to $146 billion for 1994, the fourth straight year of increase. Exports rose 9.3% to $384 billion, while imports rose 13.5% to $238 billion.

The portion of trade transactions related to tourism, shipping and other services posted a $9-billion deficit; the 1993 deficit was $3.9 billion.

In yen terms, the current account surplus shrank 9.5% for the second consecutive year of decline. The merchandise trade surplus, which makes up most of the current account surplus, fell about 5% in yen terms, although it rose in U.S. dollar terms.

Because the dollar fell 8% against the yen in 1994, looking at Japan’s trade surplus in dollar terms tends to mask an underlying downward trend, said Tod Wood, an analyst at Baring Securities in Tokyo.

“The main factor behind the down trend is robust imports into Japan,” he said.

In volume, imports to Japan rose 13.7% while exports rose just 2.0%, according to Finance Ministry figures. Items imported in sharply greater quantities fell into the categories of food, liquor and apparel.

The figures were “in line with expectations,” Merrill Lynch Japan said in a written analysis. “With (Japanese domestic) growth expected to pick up in 1995 and 1996 and a slowdown expected in the United States, the current account should continue to fall.”

Wood also predicted that the rise of imports will outstrip growth in exports as the Japanese economy gathers momentum relative to its trading partners.

“The Jan. 17 earthquake will also stimulate Japan’s import demand for basic materials required for rebuilding the Kobe area,” he added. “We expect to see consistent declines in Japan’s current account surplus, in both U.S. dollar and yen terms, in 1995.”