Japan recorded a trade deficit of 462.51 billion yen ($3 billion) in April as higher crude oil prices and a sharp drop in the yen boosted the value of imports, offsetting robust export growth, government data showed Wednesday.
Buoyed by continued strength in auto demand, exports rose for the fifth straight month, up 8.3 percent to 8.98 trillion yen, a record for April. Imports, meanwhile, also rose 8.3 percent, to 9.44 trillion yen, the largest ever for the month.
Major items boosting export growth were hybrid cars, semiconductor-making equipment and chips. Crude oil and aircraft were big contributors to the rise in imports.
The yen was 14.7 percent weaker against the U.S. dollar in the reporting month, when Japan was suspected to have intervened in the market to slow the currency's rapid decline.
A weak yen inflates import costs for resource-scarce Japan but boosts Japanese exporters' overseas earnings. Crude oil prices jumped 17.7 percent from a year earlier in yen terms, compared with a 2.6 percent increase in dollar terms.
U.S.-bound exports increased 8.8 percent to 1.80 trillion yen, extending its growth streak to 31 months.
The expansion underscores the resilience of the world's largest economy despite a spate of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to curb demand and cool inflation.
Japan's trade surplus with the United States shrank 13.2 percent to 688.46 billion yen, down for the first time in 15 months. The decrease came after imports jumped 29.0 percent to 1.11 trillion yen, partly because of big ticket items like aircraft.
With another major trading partner China, Japan remained in the red for the 37th straight month with a 526.97 billion yen trade deficit, up 14.6 percent.
Imports rose 10.8 percent to 2.11 trillion yen, boosted by personal computers and smartphones. Exports increased 9.6 percent to 1.59 trillion yen amid strong demand for chip-making equipment and hybrid cars.
Japan's trade surplus with Asia including China expanded 2.8 percent to 305.84 billion yen. Its trade balance with the European Union came to a 123.20 billion yen deficit, expanding 68.0 percent.
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