Japan's trade glut with Asia climbs

Japan's trade glut with Asia climbs

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's trade surplus with the rest of the Asia rose for the first time in five months in June as Thailand, Malaysia and other nations absorbed more Japanese exports, the finance ministry said Thursday.

Japan's surplus with the region rose 6.5 percent to 398.0 billion yen (US$3.3 billion) in the month, the ministry said in a statement.

Exports were up 2.3 percent to 1,553.0 billion yen, the first year-on-year increase in 18 months. Shipments of automobile parts jumped 74.9 percent and semiconductor and other electronics devices grew 4.0 percent.

Imports from Asia grew 1.0 percent to 1,155.0 billion yen, posting a rise for the third consecutive month, the ministry said.

Trade with Asia slumped last year with other Asian economies still reeling in the aftermath of the region-wide currency crisis and Japan suffering its worst recession since World War II, economists said.

"The trend is now being reversed ... as the economy is picking up in Japan and some other Asian countries," said Daiwa Institute of Research economist Koichi Ono.

Japan's surplus "is likely to keep rising for a while," he said.

"If economies (in the rest of Asia) maintain the current momentum, it will give a great boost to exports from Japan," he said.

Imports from the rest of Asia, on the other hand, may not grow sharply given Japan's fragile economy, Ono warned.

"There is a high possibility that the (Japanese) economy will dip again" because the recent high growth was sustained by government spending, he said.

Japan's trade surplus with Thailand more than tripled from a year earlier, rising 212.0 percent to 27.4 billion yen. The surplus with South Korea surged 98.6 percent to 69.8 billion yen.

With Malaysia, Japan enjoyed a surplus of 4.4 billion yen in a turnaround from a year-earlier deficit of about 195 million yen.

The surplus with India jumped 222.1 percent to 10.2 billion yen, with the surplus expanding 20.9 percent to 32.1 billion yen for the Philippines and rising 5.2 percent to 115.5 billion yen for Singapore.

But Japan's trade surplus with Hong Kong fell 22.8 percent to 199.1 billion yen. The surplus with Taiwan edged down 0.6 percent to 167.5 billion yen.

Japan's trade deficit with Vietnam diminished 14.8 percent to 4.8 billion yen, with the deficit with Indonesia dropping 4.3 percent to 79.7 billion yen.

The deficit with China shrank 0.8 percent to 142.9 billion yen.

In the six months to June, Japan's trade surplus with the rest of Asia tumbled 20.0 percent to 1,660 billion yen.

Exports from Japan dropped 7.3 percent to 8,251 billion yen as imports from Asia fell 3.5 percent to 6,591 billion yen.