Japan reports record trade deficit

JAPAN has reported a record trade deficit for 2012, a year in which exports were hit by a bitter diplomatic spat with China and plunging demand in Europe.

Official figures from the finance ministry showed Japan's trade shortfall last year totalled Y6.92 trillion ($A74.21 billion), with the deficit in December alone standing at a higher-than-expected Y641.5 billion ($A6.88 billion).

The data marked a second consecutive annual trade deficit for the export-reliant economy.

The gloomy numbers spell more bad news for the world's third-largest economy as it struggles to recover from the 2011 quake-tsunami and the impact of an export-sapping strong yen.

They also underscore the size of the task ahead for the new government of Shinzo Abe, who won last month's election on a pledge to boost the economy with big public spending and by pressuring the central bank for a more aggressive monetary policy.

Last year, exports totalled Y63.7 trillion against imports of Y70.7 trillion, with post-Fukushima energy imports of expensive fossil fuels surging as all but two of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors were closed.

But analysts said the 2012 figures may mark a low point for Japan's trade picture as the global economy stages a recovery.

"The figures will likely be better in 2013 as overseas economies improve," said Masahiko Hashimoto, an economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, adding that the impact of a territorial feud with China would probably fade.

"The European economy may continue to worsen until the middle of the year but China and other Asian economies are likely to lead the global economy."

However, he said the deficit would likely remain for the short term as a weakening yen makes overseas energy imports pricier, Hashimoto said.

Japan ran a 2012 trade surplus with the US, but recorded a deficit of Y139.7 billion with the European Union, its first.

The deficit with Beijing doubled to a record Y3.52 trillion as a feud over a set of islands in the East China Sea spurred a Chinese consumer boycott of Japanese.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan, following government pressure, adopted a two per cent inflation target to beat the deflation that has haunted the economy for years and also set out plans for indefinite monetary easing.

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