Tokyo, Jul 25 (IANS): Japan posted trade surplus in the first half of this year, the first time for a half-year period since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, with both exports and imports value declining from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday.

The country's trade surplus stood at 1.81 trillion yen ($17 billion) in the first six months of this year, converting from a deficit of 1.70 trillion yen in the preceding year, preliminary statistics released Monday by the Ministry of Finance showed.

In the January-June period, Japan's exports value fell 8.7 per cent on year to 34.52 trillion yen, and imports value tumbled 17.2 per cent on year to 32.7 trillion yen, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the six-month period, exports value to China, Japan's major trading partner, decreased 9.0 per cent on year to 5.89 trillion yen, and imports value from China dropped 10.2 per cent on year to 8.47 trillion yen.

In the same period, Japan's exports to the US slid 6.5 per cent to 7.04 trillion yen, while imports from the US went down 12.1 per cent to 3.63 trillion yen.

Japan's exports to the European Union rose 4.0 per cent to 4.04 trillion yen in the period, while imports from the region shed 0.2 per cent to 4.04 trillion yen.

In the single month of June, Japan's goods trade surplus came to 692.8 billion yen following a deficit in May, with exports and imports down 7.4 per cent and 18.8 per cent from the previous year, respectively.