Jan. 27, 2006 (China Knowledge) - Japan's trade surplus saw its first fall in four years in 2005 due to high energy prices, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). Also for the first time, Japan dropped below China in terms of foreign trade surplus, said AFP, citing official Japanese statistics.

Japan's trade surplus shrank 26.5% to 8.79 trillion yen in 2005, reversing growth of 17.3% in 2004, Japan’s finance ministry said in a preliminary report.

This was below the record trade surplus of US$101.9 billion China posted for last year. Figures out Wednesday also showed China to have overtaken France and Britain to be the world's fourth largest economy behind the U.S., Japan and Germany.
Japan's surplus with Asia fell 11.7% to 6.54 trillion yen in 2005 while trade deficits with China rose 41.8% to 3.13 trillion yen as imports of computers and related equipment jumped 22.4%.

The surplus rose 11.1% to 7.74 trillion yen with the U.S. but fell 5.3%to 3.19 trillion yen with the European Union.

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