Japan's trade deficit in July; exports to South Korea fell 6.9%

Japan's logged a trade deficit in July for the second time in two months.

According to its finance ministry, the country posted a deficit of 2.3 billion U.S dollars last month.

Weak exports to China due to the Beijing – Washington tariff war are seen as the key contributing factor.

Outbound shipments to China fell more than nine percent on-year.

Exports to Korea also decreased by almost seven percent.

The ministry couldn't identify whether Tokyo's recent trade restrictions on Seoul had affected the trade balance figure since there was no seperate data for the affected materials.