Japan’s May exports grow unexpectedly on solid car shipments
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JAPAN’S exports grew unexpectedly in May on robust car sales, though the rate of expansion slowed to a crawl as inflation and rising interest rates bit into global demand, highlighting a patchy recovery in the world’s third-largest economy.
While the country’s hotels, restaurants and other service sector companies have seen a boom in business since Covid-19 curbs were eased, its factories have been struggling amid weakening demand for Japanese cars and electronics.
Ministry of Finance data on Thursday (Jun 15) showed that exports rose 0.6 per cent year on year in May, for the 27th straight month of rises, led by double-digit growth in car shipments.
That compared with a 0.8 per cent year-on-year decrease expected by 16 economists in a Reuters poll, which could have marked the first export decline in more than two years, and followed a 2.6 per cent rise in April. Imports fell 9.9 per cent in the year to April, down for the second straight month, versus the median estimate for a 10.3 per cent decrease.
The trade balance came to a deficit of 1.3725 trillion yen (S$13.1 billion), versus the median estimate for a 1.3319 trillion yen shortfall.
By region, Japanese exports to China, the country’s largest trading partner, fell 3.4 per cent year on year in May, due to shrinking steel and auto parts shipment.
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US-bound exports, another key market for Japanese exports, grew 9.4 per cent in the year to May.
The data will be among other key indicators to be scrutinised by the Bank of Japan as it holds a two-day policy setting meeting that ends on Friday.
Japan’s gross domestic product expanded an annualised 2.7 per cent in the January to March period, much higher than a preliminary estimate of a 1.6 per cent growth, as revised capital expenditures and firm private consumption more than offset the slowdown in external demand. REUTERS
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