Japan surplus slips as energy prices boost

Japan’s trade surplus unexpectedly declined in July from a year earlier as import growth outweighed gains in exports due to rising energy costs.

The surplus fell 0.2 percent from a year earlier to 860 billion yen ($7.38 billion), compared with analysts’ median forecast of a surplus of 984.3 billion yen or a rise of 14.2 percent, government data showed on Wednesday.

Imports of crude oil rose 25.0 percent in value terms as import prices of crude oil jumped 27.5 percent from a year earlier.
Reuters