国际英语新闻：Japan's trade surplus expands for 2 straight months

TOKYO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Japan's trade surplus expanded for the second straight month, soaring by 364.2 percent year-on-year to 380.23 billion yen (4.09 billion U.S. dollars) in July, the finance ministry said in a preliminary report Wednesday.

    A tumble in imports, rather than a pickup in exports, was the key factor behind the surge in trade surplus, which had been recorded for the sixth consecutive month in July, according to the ministry.

    Statistics show that imports dived 40.8 percent to 4,464.42 billion yen (52.09 billion dollars) in July while exports shed 36.5 percent to 4,844.66 billion yen (52.09 billion dollars).

    In terms of regions, Japan's exports to the United States fell 39.5 percent to 772.55 billion yen (8.31 billion dollars), compared with a 35 percent drop to 439.52 billion yen (4.72 billion dollars) in imports.

    With the rest of Asia, the world's second largest economy's trade surplus contracted 24.1 percent to 700.86 billion yen (7.53 billion dollars) with exports down 29.9 percent to 2,700.80 billion yen (29.02 billion dollars) and imports shrinking 31.7 percent to 1,999.94 billion yen (21.49 billion dollars).

    Trade surplus with the European Union plummeted 72.1 percent to104.01 billion yen (1.12 billion dollars) with exports and imports down 45.8 percent and 31.0 percent, respectively, to 558.78 billion yen (6 billion dollars) and 454.77 billion yen (4.88 billion dollars).

    The trade data, measured on a customs-cleared basis, have yet to be adjusted for seasonal factors.