Japan’s Exports Tumbled 35.7% Amid Weak Global Demand (Update1)
By Daniel at 26 August, 2009, 8:52 am
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“By Aki Ito and Toru Fujioka
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s exports fell for a tenth straight month in July as demand from all of the nation’s major markets deteriorated.
Shipments abroad tumbled 36.5 percent from a year earlier, steeper than June’s 35.7 percent drop, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 38.4 percent decrease.
Manufacturers are still reeling from plunging sales of cars and electronics even as the economy emerges from its worst postwar recession. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest carmaker, said today it will cut domestic production by 220,000 vehicles.
“The U.S. hasn’t quite recovered, and China’s economy looks somewhat shaky too,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo. “We’re unlikely to see a recovery in exports in the short term.”
The yen traded at 94.17 per dollar at 4:55 p.m. in Tokyo from 94.04 before the report. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.4 percent after U.S. consumer confidence gained.
Exports may also have been eroded by the yen’s 1.7 percent advance against the dollar in July from June. A stronger yen cuts into exporters’ profits when they are repatriated back into local currency.
Declines in shipments accelerated in all major regions: Exports to China fell 26.5 percent, shipments to the U.S. slid 39.5 percent and those to Europe slumped 45.8 percent, according to today’s report.”
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