Japan Cut Middle East Petroleum Volumes 30.9 Percent and Paid 3.7 Percent More
Japan imported 30.9 percent less petroleum by volume from the Middle East in August than a year earlier and paid 3.7 percent more for it, the Ministry of Finance said on 16 September. Across all suppliers the pattern runs the other way on volume: petroleum volumes rose 3.6 percent while the petroleum bill rose 58.7 percent.
The trade deficit widened to 1,105,607 million yen from 294,090 million a year earlier, 275.9 percent wider. Exports rose 19.3 percent to 10,048,375 million yen and imports rose 28.0 percent to 11,153,982 million.
Price, not volume
Unit costs did all the work. Japan’s worldwide petroleum unit value rose about 53 percent and its Middle East unit value about 50 percent, on our calculation from the published volume and value changes. Liquefied natural gas tells the same story from the other side: volumes fell 6.8 percent while the bill rose 29.7 percent.
Mineral fuels alone contributed 7.8 percentage points of the 28.0 point rise in total imports. Put another way, the category supplied 28.0 percent of the 2,439,814 million yen by which the import bill actually grew, on our calculation, so a single category accounts for more than a quarter of the increase. Petroleum by itself contributed 5.1 points.
| Import category | Value, million yen | Change | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand total | 11,153,982 | 28.0% | 28.0 pts |
| Mineral fuels | 2,463,655 | 38.4% | 7.8 pts |
| Petroleum | 1,190,519 | 58.7% | 5.1 pts |
| Liquefied natural gas | 588,194 | 29.7% | 1.5 pts |
Japan’s provisional trade statistics for August 2026, published by the Ministry of Finance on 16 September 2026. Values are customs, insurance and freight. Petroleum volumes rose 3.6 percent and liquefied natural gas volumes fell 6.8 percent over the same period. Contribution is the ministry’s own contribution degree column.
The Middle East supplied less of it
The shift in where the volumes came from is the part that matters outside Japan. Middle East petroleum accounted for 62.6 percent of Japan’s petroleum import volume in August, on our calculation from the published quantities. A year earlier the same calculation puts the share close to 94 percent: the ministry publishes the volume changes to one decimal, which fixes the year ago share no more tightly than that. Japan’s total imports from the Middle East fell 4.2 percent in value to 868,156 million yen even as its worldwide fuel bill rose 38.4 percent, and mineral fuels are 94.3 percent of what Japan buys from the region.
| Japan’s trade with the Middle East | Value, million yen | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Imports, all goods | 868,156 | -4.2% |
| Of which mineral fuels | 818,402 | -3.7% |
| Of which petroleum | 729,411 | 3.7% |
| Exports to the Middle East | 283,152 | -5.2% |
Same release. Middle East petroleum volumes fell 30.9 percent while the value rose 3.7 percent. Petroleum is 84.0 percent of the value of Japan’s Middle East imports.
Japan’s exports covered 90.1 percent of its imports in August against 96.6 percent a year earlier, on our calculation. For every extra yen of exports Japan won in the year, it spent 1.50 yen more on imports.
Why it matters: Japan is the clearest single test of what is happening to Asian buyers of Gulf oil, because its statistics office publishes volume and value side by side. It took 30.9 percent less Middle East petroleum by volume in August and paid 3.7 percent more for it, which puts the Middle East unit value up about 50 percent on the year, on our calculation. For Gulf exporters the reading is that volume and revenue have come apart: the region shipped materially less to a large traditional Asian customer and still billed more for it.
Outlook: These are provisional figures. The release does not say whether the Middle East volume share recovers; what it fixes is the August position, 62.6 percent of Japan’s petroleum import volume against close to 94 percent a year earlier.
Sources: Japan Ministry of Finance.
