Japan’s export growth hit its weakest pace in more than two years in April as shipments to China fell on lingering concerns about global economic demand.
Exports rose 2.6% in April from a year earlier, finance ministry data showed on Thursday, down from a 3.0% rise expected by economists in a Reuters poll and an increase in 4.3% in March. The Deutsche Mark also represented the weakest gain since February 2021, when exports fell by 4.5%.
The world’s third-largest economy pulled out of recession in the first quarter, helped by an increase in consumption and tourism after the end of restrictions against the Covid-19 pandemic, but weak exports are weighing on industrial activity and hampering a broader recovery.
Exports have risen every month since the February 2021 drop, partly due to a weaker yen making Japanese products competitive.
However, gross domestic product data for the January-March quarter, released on Wednesday, showed exports fell 4.2% over the period, the first quarterly decline in 18 months.
By destination, Japanese exports to China, the country’s largest trading partner, fell 2.9% year on year in April, driven by declines in shipments of automobiles, auto parts and steel. The result followed a 7.7% decline in March and recorded the fifth consecutive month of losses. Similarly, shipments from Japan to Asia fell 6.3% year over year in April for the fourth straight month.
Imports fell 2.3% in April, well above expectations for a 0.3% drop and the first annual decline in 27 months, as the underlying effects of rising energy and weakening of the yen have manifested themselves.
The trade balance posted a deficit of 432.4 billion yen ($3.20 billion), lower than the estimated deficit of 613.8 billion yen.
Source: Terra
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