4TH LD: Japan's September trade surplus largest since March 2008.

TOKYO, Oct. 20 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING)

Japan's trade surplus in September was the largest since March 2008, supported by a steady recovery in exports, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

A trade surplus was registered for the eighth straight month, up 472.3 percent from a year earlier to 520.64 billion yen, with both exports and imports recovering to the highest levels this year, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

For the April-September period, Japan recorded a trade surplus of 1,950.33 billion yen, compared with a deficit of 1,489.22 billion yen in the preceding six-month period from October last year.

In September, exports fell 30.7 percent to 5,104.72 billion yen on a year-to-year basis for the 12th straight month of decline. But the amount was the largest since last November, driven especially by a pickup in automobile shipments.

Japan's exports have recovered about 46.7 percent since January, when they slumped to their lowest level of 3,480.40 billion yen following the financial crisis triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September last year.

Compared with the previous month, auto exports in terms of units jumped 32.7 percent to 455,903, a ministry official said.

In terms of value, shipments of semiconductors and electronic components from Japan to overseas increased 9.7 percent from August, while those of steel products grew 8.0 percent, according to the official.

Imports shrank 36.9 percent to 4,584.08 billion yen for the 11th consecutive month of contraction. But the amount was the largest since last December.

Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance  Co., said he expects the pace of recovery in exports to slow in the months ahead as the U.S. and European economies are not yet as buoyant as the Chinese economy, in addition to the impact of the recent rise in the yen.

Kodama said the possibility of a double-dip recession around the first three months of next year has not completely faded away.

''But if the recession comes, I believe it will result from weak private consumption in Japan against the backdrop of salary cuts, rather than external demand,'' he said.

By region, Japan's trade surplus with the United States fell 33.8 percent from a year earlier to 371.27 billion yen, down for the 25th straight month.

Exports to the U.S. market fell 34.1 percent to 833.35 billion yen against 713.08 billion yen in August.

With the rest of Asia, Japan's trade surplus grew 8.0 percent to 723.00 billion yen, the first expansion in 13 months.

Exports to other Asian economies expanded to 2,803.92 billion yen, the highest level since last October.

But Japan posted a trade deficit with China for the third straight month, amounting to 66.85 billion yen.

The trade surplus with the European Union plunged 64.3 percent to 132.34 billion yen. Exports totaled 601.73 billion yen in September against 514.33 billion yen the previous month.

As for the first half of fiscal 2009 that began in April, exports fell 36.4 percent from a year before to 27,274.77 billion yen, while imports shrank 39.9 percent to 25,324.44 billion yen.

The pace of contraction was the fastest for both exports and imports since fiscal 1980 when comparable data first became available.

Trade figures are measured on a customs-cleared basis before adjustment for seasonal factors.