Tokyo, July 22 (QNA) – Japan logged a trade deficit of 1.01 trillion yen ($6.2 billion) in the first six months of 2026 amid disruptions of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz affecting imports.
Japan’s crude oil imports from the Middle East region fell 26.4% to 47.31 million km, the Japanese Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report, while imports of oil from the US surged 210.3% to 5.7 million km, the highest on record for the six-month period since comparable data became available in 1979, including a 5.6-fold jump to 2.72 million km in June alone, the data showed, Kyodo News Agency reported.
Although the overall deficit shrank 57% in the six months from a year earlier, Japan registered a trade deficit for the 10th straight half-year period.
Data showed that Japan’s imports rose 10.7% to 61.67 trillion yen in the first half from a year earlier.
Exports gained 13.7% to 60.66 trillion yen, thanks to robust shipments of semiconductors and other electronic devices, mainly to China, and autos to destinations such as the European Union.
Japan registered a surplus of 3.15 trillion yen with the US. Exports rose on brisk demand for excavators and electric vehicles, but imports increased at a faster pace due to purchases of crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum products.
Japan had a trade deficit of 4.64 trillion yen with China.
For June alone, Japan posted a trade deficit of 406.9 billion yen, according to the ministry. (QNA)