Data released by the Ministry of Finance, Japan, showed that the country's trade deficit for the month of November 2022 was JPY 2,027.4 billion, which is significantly higher as compared with a figure of JPY 973.6 billion recorded in the same period last month.
As per reports, this was the sixteenth straight month of the deficit which was the longest stretch since 2015, adding to concerns over the strength of the country's economic recovery.
While the country's exports rose by 20% YoY to JPY 8,837.5 billion, imports jumped by 30.3% YoY to JPY 10,864.9 billion in November 2022.
Exports to the USA rose by 32.5% YoY, followed by European Union (up 32% YoY) and Asia (up 11.6%) during the period under review. The island nation's exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner and the world's second-largest economy, grew by just 3.5% YoY.
On the imports side, Japan's crude oil imports increased by 69.7% YoY, coal imports rose by 106.8% YoY and liquefied natural gas imports were higher by 51.9% YoY in November 2022. Mineral fuels accounted for 28.6% of the country's total imports, and these three items together accounted for 25.5% of Japan's total import basket.
Japan has reportedly logged a cumulative trade deficit this year of JPY 18.5 trillion, more than the record annual JPY 12.8 trillion trade deficit for 2014.
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