Japan post record trade deficit as fuel imports surge amid reactor shutdowns

Japan post record trade deficit as fuel imports surge amid reactor shutdowns

by Lee Gliddon

TOKYO — Disaster-battered Japan reported its biggest annual trade deficit ever Thursday, a contrast from decades of surpluses, as a nuclear crisis boosted expensive oil and gas imports.

The Finance Ministry’s preliminary trade data showed a 4.41 trillion yen ($54 billion) trade deficit for the fiscal year that ended March 31.

All but one of Japan’s 54 nuclear power reactors are offline in the aftermath of a nuclear crisis set off in March 2011 by the tsunami in northeastern Japan. That has forced Japan to rely on oil and gas-fired generation to supply electricity.

Although the central government, eager to restart some of the reactors, has been carrying out safety tests on the nuclear plants, local officials have been wary of giving a
go-ahead.