Japan's trade deficit surges to Y822.2 bil in June

Nuclear once supplied more than one quarter of the resource-poor country’s energy.

That's not right! Japan doesn't lack resources. It lacks imagination. It's sits on a never ending supply of geothermal energy that is not utilized. Japan only uses 3% alternative energy, which is about the same as most third world countries. Wake up Japan!

Japan’s imports have jumped in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 when the country shut down its atomic reactors and turned to pricey fossil-fuel imports to plug its energy gap.

ok, what about falling exports when close neighbors China and SKorea are doing so well, exports are rising in less known India also.

this will rise unless the N reactors are switched on, the eventually deficit total of $100billion/10trillion Yen over a year. within 3-4 years the deficit will be more than the cost of the disaster. Japan cant do without N power in the forseeable future, yes maybe in 10-20 years they can slowly phase it out replacing with renewables. unfortunatley the tree huggers cant see to understand this

Japan also has coal resources, just not currently being used.

In this day in age Germany and South Korea are the only major developed countries that have current account surpluses. The question is whether Japan has enough foreign investment income to make up for the shortfall.

Did that third arrow make it out of the quiver yet? Why don't they use exports to pay for oil and gas rather than yen? Or do they? I'm not clear on that.

They need to start blasting the tops off all these hills in the countryside and start over. Preferably without the old boys network that's FUBARing this country.

Thursday’s data from the finance ministry showed the country logged a record 7.60 trillion yen ($74.7 billion) deficit for the first six months of the year, expanding 58% from a year earlier.

Dysfunctional Abenomics, no need to look for 3rd arrow.

Here's some more info on the cost of keeping nuclear plants shut down: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-Japan-continues-to-count-cost-of-idled-reactors-1706144.html

Abenomics! Success! Winning!

Snark...;p

The competition has caught up.... there is barely anything made in Japan anymore that can't be made in China, Taiwan or South Korea. 100 Yen to the dollar is not enough of a competitive advantage. The Yen needs to go to 130 vs the Dollar to increase exports.

Many other countries import their energy and have done for decades! To blame this as the reason for deficit is absurd. Exports are dropping because Japan is no longer producing goods like it did. Sellable goods. 24 months of decline and the government are not concerned?

After Fukushima Japan stands in the middel of a energy crises caused by to expensiv energy bill. The economies in EU and USA cannot import Moore japanes god because of the overall recension from 2008. Now we can se that the deprcetion of the yen didnt improve the terms of trade and in contrary worsen it. Also political tensions in Asia worsens the export markets. Japanese government must take new grips in the energy market to make sure that the energy pricese will not ham the competivnes of the Japnese companies. Japans problems cannot be solved only by monetary police , but Moore by a new industrial policies to promote cheaper self sufficient energy and a foreign policy that promotes influx of cheaper energy. I am sure that Japan will recover when they find the right path of economics.

“However, analysts said there were some positives from Thursday’s data. Despite the weak figures, the deficit for

June was down from May’s shortfall, and below levels seen before Japan’s consumption tax hike on April 1.”

It sounds like spinning doctor’s self-serving.

Here are some of highlights of the actually data:

1) For the first half of 2014, Japan registered the largest 6-month deficit in Japanese trade history, a whopping 7,598.4 billion yen deficit.

2) On the west front, exports to the US grew modest 4.0 percent to 6,464.1 billion yen, while imports Jumped 12.2 percent to 3,679.0 billion yen.

3) On the east front, Japan’s Exports to China, its biggest trade partner, increased 8.5 percent to 6,332.9 billion yen, but Japan’s imports from China shot up 14.0 percent to 9,254.0 billion yen. As a result, Japan's trade deficit with China hit a record high of 2,921.1 billion yen. (this is the highest trade deficit for any six-month period since comparable data became available in 1979 between Japan and its big neighbor)

4) In June 2014 alone, Japan logged trade deficit of 822.2 billion yen, the biggest ever for the month recorded and it's the 24th straight month deficit recording on the roll

So what do above data reveal to us? The answers may depend on who you would ask. However, one thing pretty much is certain: Japan, world's third-biggest economy, is longer an export powerhouse any more.

If such pattern of deficits contines, it'd undersore the crebility of so called abenomics.

So what do above data reveal to us? The answers may depend on who you would ask. However, one thing pretty much is certain: Japan, world's third-biggest economy, is longer an export powerhouse any more.

If such pattern of deficits contines, it'd undersore the crebility of so called abenomics.

to save the credibility of Abenomics, Japan has opened Retail Export Shops for foreign tourists and Abe himself is taking business trips to Cambodia, Papa New Guinea and today he is leaving for African countries.... will it give enough support to world's 3rd largest economy? very doubtful.

If Japan turns on the nuke reactors, will this deficit go away? Well, let's examine this.

In 2013, Japan spent $35.2 billion to compensate for its nuclear reactors being idled. But same period, Japan reported a trade deficit of $112 billion. If they turn on all the reactors, that still leaves them at least $80billion short. It will make the problem a little bit better, but it's far from being able to solve the deficit problem.

@Papi2013 ah you missed one little statistic the massive amounts of fuel imports gas/oil/coal to make up for the loss of Npower. turning the Npower stations back on will reduce the fuel imports considerably.