Japan logs 1st trade surplus in nearly 3 years on cheap oil

People look at an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo

Japan posted its first monthly trade surplus in nearly three years in March thanks to falling import costs from cheaper oil prices, along with a modest recovery in exports.
But the stronger-than-expected surplus is unlikely to persist, analysts said.
Japan relies on imports for virtually all of its oil, gas and coal. Oil prices already have begun to recover from the trough of below USD50 they hit earlier this year and have yet to be reflected in Japan’s imports.
“What’s more, we expect the yen to weaken further in coming months, which should lift the cost of imports by more than the yen-value of exports. The upshot is that the trade balance is unlikely to remain in surplus for long,” Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
The Finance Ministry said yesterday that preliminary data showed a 14.5 percent drop in imports in March from a year earlier, to 6.7 trillion yen ($55.6 billion). Exports climbed 8.5 percent from a year earlier to 6.9 trillion yen ($57.9 billion), leaving a surplus of 229.3 billion yen ($1.9 billion).
Based on preliminary data for October to March, Japan logged a trade deficit of 9.1 trillion yen ($76 billion) in the fiscal year from April 2014 to March 2015, it said. Exports rose 5.4 percent from the year before, while imports fell 1 percent. Elaine Kurtenbach, Business Writer, Tokyo, AP