Japan's goods trade surplus plunged 90.3 percent in April from a year earlier to ¥60.4 billion ($546 million), as exports to China remained weak on the back of U.S.-China trade tensions, government data showed Wednesday.

The result represented the third straight month of black ink, according to a preliminary report by the Finance Ministry.

Exports fell 2.4 percent to ¥6.66 trillion, down for the fifth consecutive month, due to a slump in shipments of chipmaking equipment to China, underlining the growing threat to the world's third-biggest economy from a bruising Sino-U.S. trade war, while imports rose 6.4 percent to ¥6.60 trillion on a rise in crude oil prices.