TOKYO, June 23: Japan’s trade surplus rose 12.5 per cent in May from a year earlier as a drop in oil prices weighed on imports and helped to offset a slowdown in export growth, official data showed on Monday.

May’s trade surplus climbed for the second straight month to 694.37 billion yen ($5.9 billion), as exports rose 3.5 per cent year-on-year to 4.30 trillion yen and imports grew 2.0 per cent to 3.60 trillion yen, the finance ministry said.

A 1.3 per cent decline in crude oil import prices in yen terms suppressed import growth, which was up for the ninth consecutive month.

Oil import volumes jumped 11.6 per cent in May, resulting in a 10.1 per cent increase in value year-on-year, a ministry official said. That compared to a 20.8 per cent rise in oil imports in April and a 69.2 per cent spike in March.—AFP