Japan’s Aug. Imports Hit Record High

Japan’s Aug. imports hit record high

TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — Japan’s imports surged 21.1 percent in August to a record 5,103 billion yen (about 50 billion US dollars) in the midst of soaring international oil prices, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Meanwhile, China supplanted the United States for a second time this year as Japan’s largest trading partner.

The spike in imports also shed Japan’s trade surplus by 79.7 percent to 116.3 billion yen (1 billion dollars), which signaled a surplus drop for the fifth consecutive month and the lowest since January 2003 when it logged 96.1 billion yen (866 million dollars).

Crude oil imports in the reporting month rose 49.2 percent in value terms.

Exports rose 9.1 percent to 5,219.2 billion yen (47 billion dollars) for the 21st consecutive month of increase on the back of firm demand for automobiles in the United States and steel in China.

The trade with China totaled 1,802.2 billion yen (16.2 billion dollars) in August, topping 1,741.7 billion yen (15.7 billion dollars) for the United States. Japan’s trade volume with China, including Hong Kong, in 2004 hit 22,200 billion yen (200 billion dollars), surpassing for the first time that with the United States.

The trade surplus with the 25-nation European Union dropped 28. 6 percent to 145.9 billion yen (1.3 billion dollars).