TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan Wednesday posted a record trade deficit of about $37.3 billion in the first half of the year as soaring energy costs weighed on the world’s third-largest economy and exports to key markets slumped.

The finance ministry said the country saw a shortfall of about 2.9 trillion yen ($37.3 billion) in the first six months of 2012.

The huge trade deficit stemmed largely from energy costs, with the resource-poor nation seeing a nearly 50 percent jump in purchases of liquefied natural gas and a 16 percent increase in crude oil shipments, the data showed.

Japan has struggled to meet its energy needs and turned to pricey fossil fuel alternatives after its nuclear reactors were switched off in the wake of last year’s atomic crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Two reactors have since been restarted.

“Japan’s trade balance continues to show a trend of weak exports and extreme sensitivity to import prices, such as those of crude oil,” said RBS Securities chief Japan economist Junko Nishioka.

“The crisis in Europe is posing a growing risk to Japan’s economic recovery scenario.”

In the first half, Japan’s imports rose 7.4 percent on-year, while exports grew just 1.5 percent.

Japan’s trade surplus with the European Union during the first half was at a record low, according to the ministry.

Europe is a major market for Japanese products and Tokyo has repeatedly warned that the continent’s economic woes would directly impact Japan’s recovery.

“While exports to Europe and China were already weak, we now see that export (growth) to the U.S. may also be declining,” Hideki Matsumura, economist at Japan Research Institute, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“I believe Japan will post another annual trade deficit. We’re already in the red looking at the last six months, and it’s too late to regain our losses.”

The month of June alone offered a somewhat brighter picture with Japan posting a better-than-expected trade surplus of 61.7 billion yen instead of the market forecast for a 135 billion yen deficit, the official data showed.

It was the first surplus in four months, with the exports of vehicles and auto parts rising, the data showed.

But some analysts said even the June data was less than encouraging.

“The trade deficit in the first half came from a larger scale of imports, but in June we are seeing something more fundamentally worrying,” said Taro Saito, a senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

“Exports are weakening, in particular with the United States,” he said.

“The trade surplus is only temporary. The economy will start logging a deficit from next month.”

In June, exports to the United States, namely cars and auto parts, rose 15 percent from a year ago, well down from previous months.

“The U.S. was the only driver for growth in the global economy, but it is now losing steam,” Saito said.