Japan’s exports jumped 40 percent last month, rising for a fifth straight month, fueled by brisk overseas demand for cars and high-tech goods in a fresh sign that the global economy is recovering.
Led by shipments of cars and semiconductors, exports rose to ¥5.9 trillion (US$65 billion), the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. Imports last month rose 24.2 percent to ¥5.1 trillion, resulting in a trade surplus of ¥742 billion.
Automobile exports more than doubled from a year earlier, while semiconductor shipments rose 35.5 percent.
“The figures underlined a steady recovery in the global economy. It is heartening to see Japanese car exports sharply up in every key region,” said Hiroshi Watanabe, economist at Daiwa Institute of Research.
Robust global demand, particularly in Asia, is feeding a turnaround in Japan’s economy — the world’s second-largest — offsetting weak demand and falling prices at home. Japan’s exports to Asia alone account for 56 percent of total shipments.
Watanabe said a recovery in global auto sales, which plummeted during the global economic crisis in the wake of the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, is vital to Japan’s economic recovery.
“The auto industry is one of the key pillars of the Japanese economy. With recovering demand, auto makers can boost capital investment and increase employment, stimulating domestic demand,” he said.
Recent economic signals from Japan have been fairly upbeat. GDP grew at an annual pace of 4.9 percent in the first quarter, the fourth straight quarter of expansion on the back of soaring exports to China.
Yesterday’s trade figures showed that US-bound exports rose 34.5 percent, while exports to Asia surged 45.3 percent last month. Exports to China alone jumped 41.4 percent, while shipments to the EU grew 19.8 percent.
Europe-bound exports rose for a fifth consecutive month, but Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at the Japan Research Institute, said a slump in demand from the region was around the corner because of the debt crisis in European countries that use the euro.
“The crisis could dent demand for Japanese products, but its impact will be limited because Japanese exports to Europe are much smaller than those to the United States and Asia,” Matsumura said.
Japan’s exports to the EU account for 11 percent of total shipments.
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