Japan runs record trade deficit

TOKYO  -- Japan's goods trade deficit registered 641.5 billion yen in December, government data showed on Thursday.

Exports fell 5.8 percent from a year earlier to 5,300.3 billion yen while imports expanded 1.9 percent to 5,941.8 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. It was the sixth straight month of deficit.

For 2012, the balance of trade in goods hit a record deficit of 6,927.3 billion yen, according to the ministry.

The figures were calculated on a customs-cleared basis.