TOKYO, May 21. /TASS/. Trade turnover between Japan and Russia grew by 23% in April 2026 year-on-year to 107.9 bln yen (around $679 mln), according to TASS’ calculations based on data released by the Japanese finance ministry.
Imports from Russia increased by 20.3% in the reporting period to 68.8 bln yen (around $433 mln). The main driver was an increase in purchases of Russian LNG and coal by Japan, which added 29.5% and 128.5%, respectively. Energy resources are the main source of Japanese imports from Russia, accounting for roughly 60% of all Russian supplies to Japan.
At the same time, Japan’s total LNG import volume fell by 20.6%, while the share of Russian gas in the total import volume amounted to 10.68%, according to TASS’ calculations.
Overall oil imports plummeted by 63.7%. Meanwhile, Japan did not purchase Russian oil in April, for which G7 countries have imposed a price cap, with the exception of supplies from Sakhalin-2, which are tied to LNG deliveries from the project. A TASS correspondent previously discovered that a shipment of Sakhalin oil was delivered to Japan in early May and is expected to be reflected in next month’s figures.
Among less significant product categories, purchases of non-ferrous metals from Russia lost 62.6% (18.4% of total imports from Russia), fish - 14.3% (16.1% of total imports from Russia), and grain - 98.2%, accounting for less than 0.01% of total trade turnover. Iron and steel supplies increased by 48.6% (0.2% of total imports), and supplies of vegetables climbed by 203.3%, accounting for less than 0.01% of total trade turnover.
Exports to Russia rose by 28% to 39 bln yen (around $246 mln). The main driver was a 23.6% increase in vehicle shipments to Russia, while spare parts shipments fell by 26.4%. Spare parts are the main Japanese export to Russia, accounting for around 70% of all shipments.
Plastic shipments (0.6% of total exports to Russia) increased by 1.5%. At the same time, exports of medical devices to Russia (8.5% of total exports to Russia) lost 15%, supplies of rubber (1.2% of total exports to Russia) fell by 11.1%, and supplies of generators (0.7% of total exports to Russia) decreased by 16.3%.