KUWAIT – Kuwait's trade surplus with Japan narrowed 20.7 percent in July to JPY66.7 billion ($841 million) from a year earlier, shrinking for the third straight month, while Kuwait maintained black ink with Japan for the 54th consecutive month, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. Kuwait's exports to Japan fell 16.3 percent to JPY77.2 billion ($974 million) for the third straight monthly decline, while imports from Japan jumped 29.7 percent year-on-year to JPY10.5 billion ($132 million), up for the 10th month, a preliminary ministry report said. The Middle East's trade surplus with Japan also narrowed 8.2 percent to JPY804.8 billion ($10.2 billion) last month, with Japan-bound exports from the region falling 5.4 percent from a year earlier to JPY989.5 billion ($12.3 billion). Energy exports, which accounted for 97.8 percent of the region's total shipments to Japan, went down 5.7 percent on the year. Among resources, crude oil shipments from the Middle East declined 10.6 percent, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) marked a 53.8 percent rise. Imports from Japan to the Middle East rose 9.0 percent to JPY184.8 billion ($2.3 billion) on the back of solid shipments of automobiles, steel, and machinery. The world's third-biggest economy posted a global deficit of JPY517.4 billion ($6.5 billion) in July for the first black ink in two months, as exports tumbled amid the global economic downturn stemming from Europe's debt crisis, the ministry said. It was the biggest trade deficit for the month of July since comparable data became available in 1979. The value of exports fell 8.1 percent from a year earlier to JPY5.313 trillion ($67.0 billion) for the second straight month of decline, while imports gained 2.1 percent to JPY5.831 trillion ($73.6 billion) for the first rise in two months on higher costs for LNG. Exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, fell 11.9 percent, the sharpest drop since February, as the Chinese economy slowed due to the European debt crisis. – SG
