Tokyo, May 21 -- Japan recorded a trade deficit of 115.8 billion yen (about 805 million U.S. dollars) in April, marking the first monthly deficit in three months, according to figures released
by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
Exports rose 2.0 percent year-on-year to 9.16 trillion yen, while imports declined by 2.2 percent to 9.27 trillion yen.
The drop in imports was largely due to falling energy prices, which reduced the value of coal and crude oil purchases.
Despite the overall growth in exports, shipments of automobiles to the United States fell 4.8 percent compared to the same period last year, ending a four-month streak of increases.
The decline was attributed in part to the recent appreciation of the yen in foreign exc...