TOKYO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan logged a goods trade deficit of 18.71 billion yen (184 million U.S. dollars) in August, marking the first red ink in three months, as the stronger yen dragged down value of exports, the government said Wednesday.
According to a preliminary report by the Finance Ministry, the value of exports in August fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier to 52.29 billion U.S. dollars, falling for the 11th straight month.
Meanwhile, imports dropped 17.3 percent to 52.48 billion dollars, down for the 20th consecutive month.
Regionally, trade with China marked a deficit of 3.38 billion dollars, with exports down by 8.9 percent to 9.53 billion dollars, and imports down by 15.4 percent to 12.91 billion dollars.
Trade with the U.S. ran a surplus of 3.56 billion dollars, with exports down by 14.5 percent to 9.56 billion dollars and imports down by 9.5 percent to 5.99 billion dollars.
Trade with the European Union ran a deficit of 811.47 million dollars, with exports slipping 0.7 percent to 5.81 billion dollars, declining for the fourth straight month, and imports dropping 12.4 percent to 6.62 billion dollars, down for the sixth consecutive month.
The figures were measured on a customs-cleared basis.
