Japan's July Merchandise Trade Balance: Summary (Table)

By Shizuka Muragishi

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Following is a summary of Japan's merchandise trade balance from the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo.

===============================================================================
            July      June       May      April     March     Feb.      Jan.
            2008      2008      2008      2008      2008      2008      2008
===============================================================================
            -----------------Not Seasonally Adjusted Yen Level-----------------
Balance        91.1     121.9     357.8     475.2   1,109.0     963.3     -89.8
 3-mo. avg    190.3     318.3     647.3     849.2     660.8     580.2     520.5
 Exports    7,632.1   7,153.7   6,809.0   6,891.4   7,682.5   6,975.4   6,408.4
 Imports    7,541.0   7,031.9   6,451.2   6,416.2   6,573.6   6,012.0   6,498.1
            --------------------Year-on-Year Percent Change--------------------
Balance      -86.6%    -90.2%     -9.5%    -47.4%    -30.8%      0.2%    n/a
 Exports       8.1%     -1.8%      3.7%      3.9%      2.3%      8.7%      7.7%
 Imports      18.2%     16.4%      4.5%     12.0%     11.2%     10.2%      9.2%
            ---------------------Three-Month Percent Change--------------------
Balance      -77.6%    -51.8%     11.6%     63.1%    -25.2%    -48.7%    -53.4%
 Exports       0.2%     -1.0%      2.7%      2.1%     -5.1%     -5.5%     -3.1%
===============================================================================
            July      June       May      April     March     Feb.      Jan.
            2008      2008      2008      2008      2008      2008      2008
===============================================================================
 Imports      10.6%      4.3%      1.9%     -2.8%     -2.4%      2.4%      6.0%
            -------------------Seasonally Adjusted Yen Level-------------------
Balance       172.4     131.3     483.6     626.3     668.3     600.0     817.3
 3-mo. avg    262.4     413.7     592.8     631.6     695.2     666.8     735.4
 Exports    7,375.1   7,284.1   7,216.0   6,928.0   7,140.1   7,053.9   7,239.9
 Imports    7,202.7   7,152.8   6,732.4   6,301.6   6,471.7   6,453.9   6,422.6
            -------------------Month-on-Month Percent Change-------------------
Balance       31.3%    -72.8%    -22.8%     -6.3%     11.4%    -26.6%     40.2%
 Exports       1.2%      0.9%      4.2%     -3.0%      1.2%     -2.6%      0.9%
 Imports       0.7%      6.2%      6.8%     -2.6%      0.3%      0.5%     -2.6%
            ---------------------Three-Month Percent Change--------------------
Balance      -58.4%    -40.5%    -11.1%    -14.1%    -13.3%    -30.1%    -30.8%
 Exports       3.6%      0.0%     -0.9%     -2.0%     -0.1%      0.9%      1.0%
 Imports       9.7%      4.3%      0.2%     -0.7%      1.6%      5.8%      6.5%
===============================================================================

NOTE: Levels are in billions of yen. Three-month percentage changes are calculated as the three-month average change from the prior three- month average.

SOURCE: Ministry of Finance

To contact the reporter of this story: Shizuka Muragishi in Tokyo at smuragishi@bloomberg.net