Japan registers biggest 6-month trade deficit in 2014

Japan registered a 7,598.4 billion yen deficit in goods trade for the six months through June, the biggest on record for any six-month period, due partly to slow growth in exports and a surge in imports amid the prolonged halt of nuclear power plants, the government said Thursday.
The deficit exceeded the previous record of 6,655.7 billion yen marked in the latter half of 2013, underscoring the world's third-biggest economy is no longer an export powerhouse and the need for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to implement structural reforms to strengthen Japan's global industrial competitiveness, according to (Kyodo) news agency.
During the first half of 2014, the value of imports rose 10.0% on year to 42,648.2 billion yen, with those of liquefied natural gas jumping 11.6% and of crude oil increasing 5.1%, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.