Japan's trade surplus shrank in June from a year earlier, reflecting a decline in exports, and activity in all industries dropped in May for the second straight month.
The customs-cleared trade surplus was down 36.1 per cent from the previous year at 761.7 billion yen ($6.18 billion) in June, the Ministry of Finance said today, underscoring the fragility of the world's second-biggest economy.
Japan's trade surplus has been on a continual decline in recent years, dipping into a deficit in January for the first time in four years.
The fall in exports, stemming largely from a slowdown in the US economy and the information-technology sector, has sent the economy reeling as it struggles back to its feet after the worst slump in the postwar period.
Japan's surplus with the US, its largest trading partner, fell 8.3 per cent in June to 586.1 billion yen.
And in another reminder of the economy's sluggishness, business activity in all industries fell 0.9 per cent in May from the previous month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.
The index declined for the second straight month for the first time since January-February last year.
The decline in the index was within economists' expectations, which they said stemmed from weak industrial output and falls in construction sector activity.