Data showed that exports to Russia fell by 46.9% to 232.4 billion yen, while imports from Russia increased by 36.1% to reach 982.8 billion yen.
Japan's exports of rubber products to Russia decreased by 91.8%, exports of semiconductor parts by 96.6%, playback and recording video equipment by 98.8%. In addition, car exports, which account for 58% of total Japanese exports to Russia, decreased by 41.6% and auto parts by 88.4%.
At the same time, imports of food products from Russia showed an increase of almost 30%, imports of energy resources increased by 51.9%, including a 90% increase in liquefied natural gas import.
Food and energy prices have been growing for 13 months in a row, coupled with inflation and historic lows of exchange rate of the Japanese currency against the US dollar.