Elevated Oil Prices Push Japan’s Imports to an All-Time High

Japan’s import bill reached an all-time high in July, driven by higher oil prices, to a total of $76.39 billion. This was up by 27.8% from July 2025, Reuters reported, citing import and export data. In volume terms, Japan’s crude oil imports ticked up by 5.5% from a year earlier, but in price terms, the oil bill surged by 87.8%, breaking the previous record, set in June. “The recovery in crude volumes, combined with persistently high oil prices and larger shipments of pricier US crude, has been pushing up the value of imports,”…