Mubasher: Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan jumped 82.3% in 2017 to JPY 503.45 billion ($4.6 billion) from JPY 276.20 billion ($2.51 billion) in 2016, data released on Wednesday showed.
As for the month of December, the Kuwait-Japan trade surplus surged 90.7% year-on-year to JPY 55.0 billion ($501 million), according to the Japanese Ministry of Finance. The rise marked the 12th increase in a row.
Kuwait’s overall exports to Japan also grew 60.2% in December to JPY 71.5 billion ($650 million), marking the 12th straight month of increases.
Similarly, the GCC member’s imports from Japan increased by 4.2% to JPY 16.4 billion ($149 million), registering a rise for the second successive month.
In general, the Middle East’s trade surplus with Japan grew 41.2% to JPY 639.1 billion ($5.8 billion) in December, while exports to Japan from the region were up 28.9% compared to the same period of the year before.
The Middle East’s main exports to Japan included crude oil, refined products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and other natural resources and accounted for 95.9% of the region’s exports to the Asian country. The region’s exports grew 28.7% year-on-year in December.
Japan, the world’s third largest economy, recorded a global surplus of JPY 359.0 billion ($3.3 billion) in December, registering the seventh straight monthly increase. This rise was backed by the continued demand for cars, steel, and semiconductor-making equipment.
For the full-year 2017, Japan logged its second straight year of surplus at JPY 2.991 trillion ($27.2 billion).
China continued to be Japan’s largest trading partner in 2017, followed by the US.
