Japanese exports drop for the first time in almost two years

TOKYO– Japanese exports fell for the first time in almost two years. The trade war between the United States and China, coupled with signs of economic slowdown around the world, has weighed on the demand for Japanese cars, telecom equipment and excavators.

Japan's exports fell 1.2% in September compared to last year, the Japanese Finance Ministry said Thursday. The decline affected Japan's trade surplus, which fell 79% from the previous year, to 139.6 billion yen ($ 1.24 billion), which is however to market expectations, which was 53 billion yen deficit according to a Nikkei survey.

Exports to China fell for the first time in seven months, due to falling demand for semiconductors and cell phone parts. US President Donald Trump has imposed a $ 250 billion tariff on Chinese products and accused China of stealing technology.

Japanese exports have also suffered damage to production sites and logistics networks from natural disasters, including the closure of an international airport in Kansai, officials at the Ministry of Finance said. They said it could not isolate the effects of the trade war between the world's two largest economies – the two poles of global production and consumption – on the Japanese economy, they said.

The persistent weakness of exports suggests that economic activity may have stagnated, according to Marcel Thieliant, Japan's leading economist at Capital Economics, pointing out that the decline in overall export volume was the strongest since January 2016.

Imports rose 7% from a year ago as a result of soaring crude oil prices and higher oil imports from Saudi Arabia and liquefied natural gas from the United States. 39; Australia.

Japan's monthly trade surplus with the United States fell 4% from the previous year, reaching 590 billion yuan. President Trump also criticized Japan's strong trade surplus with the United States.

– Write to Mayumi Negishi at [email protected]