Japan has posted a trade deficit for the second consecutive month in August. The country saw robust exports, but they were still overshadowed by growing imports.
The Finance Ministry reported a deficit of over 690 billion yen for the month, or 4.9 billion dollars.
The shortfall was largely due to an increase in imports of medicine from Europe.
Japan saw brisk shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. That helped send exports 5.6 percent higher year on year to over 8.4 trillion yen, or almost 60 billion dollars.
That’s the largest figure for August since 1979, when comparable data became available.
Meanwhile, imports grew 2.3 percent to over 9.1 trillion yen, or nearly 65 billion dollars. That marks the fifth straight month of increases, with imports from the European Union hitting an all-time high.