TOKYO, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Japan's current account surplus for September dropped 31.1 percent year-on-year, the second consecutive month of decline, as the trade balance deteriorated due to sluggish automobile exports and rising energy import costs, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
The current account balance, one of the most widely used indicators to measure international trade, logged a surplus of 1.0 trillion yen (9.1 billion U.S. dollars) and black ink for the 15th consecutive month, the ministry's preliminary report revealed. In August, the surplus declined 21.8 percent.
The country's goods trade balance has seen red ink for the second successive month, with a deficit of 229.9 billion yen (2.0 billion dollars), down from a surplus of 906.7 billion yen (8.0 billion dollars) a year earlier.
A ministry official said the trade deficit was triggered by a year-on-year decline of 40.3 percent in automobile exports, as well as increasing purchases of energy resources stimulated by surging crude oil prices and medicines amid growing demand for COVID-19 vaccines.
The declining car exports resulted from production cuts by Japanese automakers, as factory shutdowns in Southeast Asia caused supply chain disruptions during the surge of COVID-19 cases and global semiconductor shortage.
The service trade deficit stood at 257.0 billion yen (2.3 billion dollars), a deterioration from the 208.3 billion yen (1.8 billion dollars) in the same period last year.
The travel surplus fell to 15.2 billion yen (134.7 million dollars) from 20.8 billion yen (184.3 million dollars) in the previous year, as international travel restrictions during the pandemic remained to curb the number of inbound tourists.
Meanwhile, the surplus in primary income, a reflection of overseas investments returns, grew 13.9 percent to 1.8 trillion yen (16.0 billion dollars), as Japanese firms received more dividend payments from their overseas subsidiaries due to boosted energy prices, the official said.
The ministry previously said in August that Japan's current account balance has been in the black for 86 straight months. But the balance turned red in June last year in an annual retrospective revision on a component of its main income, according to the official.
Japan ran a current account surplus of 8.0 trillion yen (70.9 billion dollars) for the April-September period, logging a 39.8 percent rise from the previous year. Enditem
