Japan posted a trade deficit for the month of April, for its 22nd consecutive month in the red.

Japan’s Finance Ministry says the deficit was about 8 billion US dollars.

Exports are up compared to April of last year, due in part to strong car sales in the UK.

But imports also rose 3.4 percent.

Demand was led by increased imports of fossil fuels to make up for the continuing shutdown of Japan’s nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Japan’s March trade deficit topped 10 billion dollars.

A drop in crude oil imports combined with a sales tax hike helped bring this down by about 2 billion dollars.