By NNN-KUNA,
Tokyo : Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait widened 65.1 percent in April to JPY 146.64 billion (USD 1.41 billion) from a year earlier, and the nation’s trade deficit with the entire Middle East also grew 54.1 percent to JPY 1.138 trillion (USD 10.94billion), the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
Exports to Kuwait rose 23.6 percent to JPY 14.96 billion (USD 143.9 million) in April, and imports jumped 60.1 percent to JPY 161.60 billion (USD 1.55 billion), the ministry said in a preliminary report.
Japan is Kuwait’s largest oil buyer, and the nation is the third-biggest exporter to Kuwait following the US and Germany.
Exports to the Middle East advanced 17.7 percent from a year earlier to JPY 257.52 billion (USD 2.47 billion), led by strong shipments of automobiles, machinery, and steel products. April imports from the Middle East surged 45.8 percent to JPY 1.396 trillion (USD 13.43 billion), buoyed by imports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), the report showed.
Japan’s trade surplus worldwide in the reporting month fell 46.3 percent from a year earlier to JPY 485.03 billion (USD 4.66 billion) for the second monthly slip, hit by higher oil import costs and sluggish exports to the US, Japan’s biggest market.
Overall exports from the world’s second-largest economy rose 4.0 percent from a year earlier to JPY 6.896 trillion (USD 66.32 billion) for the 53rd straight monthly increase. Imports climbed 11.9 percent to 6.411 trillion (USD 61.65 billion), up for the seventh month in a row.
The value of crude oil imports in April leaped 55.0 percent year-on-year, while that of LNG jumped 65.8 percent. April average oil price hit another all-time high of USD 100.7 per barrel, up 65.4 percent from the previous year.
Japan imports virtually all of its oil needs.
The trade data are measured on a customs-cleared basis before adjustment for seasonal factors.