Japan marks first trade deficit in 22 months in January

TOKYO - Japan marked the first trade loss in 22 months in January with a deficit of 471.4 billion yen ($5.7 billion), the government said Wednesday.

While Japan’s exports edged up 1.4 percent from a year earlier to 4.97 trillion yen, imports grew 12.4 percent to 5.44 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The rise in exports marked the 15th consecutive month of increase, but shipments to Asia were almost unchanged from a year earlier with a 0.4-percent increase to 2.73 trillion yen.