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By APD writer Alice
A preliminary report by the Japanese Finance Ministry showed that Japan ran a trade deficit of 82.08 billion yen ($749 million) in November on weak exports to China.
Last month, exports of the world’s second largest economy dropped 7.9 percent year on year to 6.38 trillion yen, down for the 12th straight month. Meanwhile, its imports dropped 15.7 percent to 6.46 trillion yen, marking the seventh consecutive month of decline.
According to private sector economists, Japan's imports in November decreased amid a slowdown in local consumer demand after a consumption tax hike from 8% to 10% in early October.
However, economist Yutaro Suzuki from the Daiwa Research Institute said that Japan's imports could recover to a certain extent after the negative impact of the tax increase eases. He also forecast that Japan's exports to Asian markets, especially semiconductors and other electronic components, may prosper and become a driving force for exports in the context that companies in Asia are increasingly preparing for the production of devices that use 5G services.
Japan’s exports to China, including auto parts and materials for chemical products, fell 5.4 percent to 1.31 trillion yen, while imports of mobile phones and computers shrank 16.4 percent to 1.58 trillion yen. As a result, Japan incurred a deficit of 268.02 billion yen with China, its biggest trading partner.
With the whole of Asia, including China, Japan's trade surplus nearly tripled to 481.23 billion yen thanks to declines in imports of mobile phones from China and electronic components from Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the country’s trade surplus with the United States decreased for the third consecutive months, plunging 16.1 percent year on year to 523.21 billion yen. Japan saw a trade deficit of 145.75 billion yen with the EU, marking the fifth straight monthly fall.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
