TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's export growth is slowing, the government said Thursday in a monthly report that acknowledged emerging risks to the world's second largest economy.
The Cabinet Office report said Tokyo remains ''cautious'' about a possible slowdown in the United States, despite some analysts saying that the worst is over for its big trading partner.
Japan's economy has expanded for three straight quarters, racking up a stronger-than-expected 3.3 percent annual pace of growth in the January-March period. But such growth was driven largely by exports.
The latest government report showed that exports to China and other Asian nations were tapering off.
Economy minister Hiroko Ota said she was worried about surging crude prices.
''I am also concerned about how this will hurt firms' profits and capital spending,'' Ota told reporters.
The Finance Ministry reported separately Thursday that Japan's trade surplus shrank a larger than expected 46.3 percent in April from a year earlier, largely due to surging imports of oil and natural gas.
Light, sweet crude futures for July delivery rose to a record above $135 a barrel Thursday in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's about double the price of a barrel of oil on Nymex a year ago.
In the domestic market, rising material costs are becoming a danger for the housing industry, the Cabinet Office report said.
Japan kept the overall assessment of the economy unchanged for the third straight month, saying that recovery appears to be coming to a pause.
Capital spending was weak, inventories were rising and consumer spending was feeble, it said.
The Finance Ministry's report said Japan's trade surplus fell to 485.0 billion yen ($4.71 billion) in April, its second straight monthly decrease.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones and Nikkei had expected the surplus to decline 21.7 percent but the oil and gas imports offset increases in automobile and ship exports.
Overall imports grew 11.9 percent to 6.411 trillion yen ($62.24 billion) in April, while exports rose 4.0 percent to 6.896 trillion yen ($66.95 billion).
The nation's trade surplus with the U.S. fell 11.5 percent, marking the eighth straight month of decline, largely due to declining exports of auto parts and motorcycles, the ministry said. Food imports, including grain and meat, increased.
Japan's trade surplus with Asia rose 17.2 percent, rising for the first time in two months, due to growing auto and ship exports to the region, the ministry said. The trade surplus with China, however, fell 50.4 percent.
