Tokyo - Saba:
Official data showed that Japan's trade deficit shrank by 44 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching 5.33 trillion yen ($34 billion), with exports reaching a record high due to strong demand for cars and semiconductors.
The Japanese news agency "Kyodo" quoted the Japanese Ministry of Finance as saying that total exports increased 6.2 percent year-on-year to 107.09 trillion yen, the highest level since comparable data became available in 1979, supported by shipments of chipmaking equipment to China and hybrid vehicles to the United States.
With exports rising for a fourth straight year, Japan’s trade balance posted a deficit for the fourth straight year, as rising energy prices in recent years have pushed up import costs in resource-strapped Japan.
Imports rose 1.8 percent to 112.42 trillion yen for the first time in two years, driven by personal computers from the United States and copper ore from Chile, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
In 2024, the yen averaged 150.97 to the U.S. dollar, down 7.7 percent from a year earlier.
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