According to the Finance Ministry, Japan's goods trade surplus stood at 17.27 billion yen (159 million U.S. dollars), compared to a revised 124.82 billion yen (1.15 billion U.S. dollars) deficit logged in September.
Japan logged a goods trade surplus for the first time in four months in October, owing to imports slumping heavily and prices for crude oil dropping, although exports retreated for the 11th straight month, the government said in a report.
The ministry's preliminary figures showed that exports dropped 9.2 percent from a year earlier in the recording period to 6.58 trillion yen (60.68 billion U.S. dollars).
This, the ministry's data showed, marked the 11th consecutive month of decline amid slowing demand from the United States for automobile and parts for aircraft.
Imports tumbling 14.8 percent to 6.56 trillion yen (60.50 billion U.S. dollars) and dropping for the sixth successive month in the recording period, contributed heavily to Japan's goods trade surplus, the ministry said.
The ministry's data showed that imports slumped owing to deliveries and prices of crude oil and other commodities dropping in the recording period.
The ministry said that the drop in exports and imports was also affected by unseasonably wet weather in the recording month, as well as supply chains and factory operations being disrupted by a powerful typhoon that lashed wide swathes of Japan in October.
By country, exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, dropped 10.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.32 trillion yen (12.16 billion U.S. dollars), owing to a decline in shipments of auto parts and plastic raw materials.
Imports from China, meanwhile, retreated 15.4 percent to 1.59 trillion yen (14.65 billion U.S. dollars). Japan's deficit with China extended for a 19th straight month, standing at 269.87 billion yen (2.48 billion U.S. dollars), the ministry said.
Japan's trade surplus with Asia as a whole, including China, meanwhile, increased by 36.7 percent to 299.56 billion yen (2.76 billion U.S. dollars). This was owing to increased exports of steel products to Thailand, the ministry's data showed.
With the United States, Japan's trade surplus dropped 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 557.54 billion yen (5.13 billion U.S. dollars) as exports of auto-related products dropped.
Owing in part to a fall in exports to Britain of aircraft engine parts, Japan's trade deficit with the European Union stood at 46.46 billion yen (428 million U.S. dollars), the finance ministry said. ■