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Japan trade deficit falls to $8.8B as imports ebb

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2014 file photo, a port worker walks past a piles of cargo at a container terminal in Tokyo. Japan has logged a 948.5 billion yen ($8.8 million) trade deficit in August, the 26th straight month of red ink, as weak demand at home hit imports while exports also fell. The Finance Ministry reported Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 that exports fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.71 trillion yen ($53.3 billion) while imports dropped 1.5 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($62.1 billion). (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2014 file photo, a port worker walks past a piles of cargo at a container terminal in Tokyo. Japan has logged a 948.5 billion yen ($8.8 million) trade deficit in August, the 26th straight month of red ink, as weak demand at home hit imports while exports also fell. The Finance Ministry reported Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 that exports fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.71 trillion yen ($53.3 billion) while imports dropped 1.5 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($62.1 billion). (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2014 file photo, a port worker walks past a piles of cargo at a container terminal in Tokyo. Japan has logged a 948.5 billion yen ($8.8 million) trade deficit in August, the 26th straight month of red ink, as weak demand at home hit imports while exports also fell. The Finance Ministry reported Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 that exports fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.71 trillion yen ($53.3 billion) while imports dropped 1.5 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($62.1 billion). (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

TOKYO (AP) – Japan logged a 948.5 billion yen ($8.8 million) trade deficit in August, the 26th straight month of red ink, as weak demand at home hit imports while exports also fell, the Finance ministry reported Thursday.

Exports fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.71 trillion yen ($53.3 billion) while imports dropped 1.5 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($62.1 billion), according to preliminary data. The deficit was slightly lower than the 971.4 billion yen gap in August 2013.

A weakening in the value of the Japanese yen has so far failed to spur a rebound in exports, despite nascent recoveries in the U.S. and Europe. Slower growth in China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, has also hurt.

But consumer spending inside Japan also has been lackluster since an April 1 sales tax, reducing demand for imports. Weaker oil prices have meanwhile cut costs for imported oil and gas.

Japan’s exports to China fell 0.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.12 trillion yen ($10.4 billion) while its imports dropped 5.3 percent to 1.35 trillion yen ($12.6 billion), yielding a defict of 233.9 billion yen ($2.2 billion). Exports to the U.S. fell 4.4 percent, as car shipments faltered, to 1 trillion yen ($9.5 billion), though imports from the U.S. jumped nearly 11 percent to 637.1 billion ($5.9 billion).