Japan logged a trade surplus of 111. 5 billion yen (903 million U.S. dollars) in October, the first time since March 2015, as low oil prices continued to drag down imports, said the government on Thursday.
According to a preliminary report by the Finance Ministry, the value of exports in October fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 6,544.0 billion yen, down for the first time since last August.
Meanwhile, imports dropped for the 10th straight month to 6. 4325 trillion yen, down 13.4 percent year on year, as crude oil imports slid by 49.2 percent to 547.52 billion yen and imports of liquefied natural gas dropped by 42.4 percent to 357.02 billion yen.
Regionally, trade with China marked a deficit of 539.6 billion yen, with export down by 3.6 percent to 1.1846 trillion yen and import down by 5.2 percent to 1.7242 trillion yen.
Trade with the U.S. ran a surplus of 666.2 billion yen, while trade with the European Union recorded a deficit of 47.6 billion yen. The figures were measured on a customs-cleared basis.
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