Soaring oil hits Japanese trade

Japan’s normally buoyant trade balance is experiencing a slide as the soaring cost of oil hits home. New figures show the current account surplus – a broad measure of exports and imports of goods and services – falling by 15.3% in June. The biggest factor behind the smaller current account surplus is higher oil prices squeezing the trade surplus,” said Norinchukin Research Institute economist Takeshi Minami. Imports of crude oil are up a third for the first half of 2005.
BBC