Japan’s exports experienced a dip of -0.3% yoy to JPY 8725B in July. This contraction is noteworthy as it breaks a growth streak that has lasted for over two years since February 2021.
Diving deeper into the data, while shipments to US and Europe saw a positive trajectory with respective rises of 13.5% yoy and 12.4% yoy, the trade dynamics with China narrated a different story.
Exports to China, Japan’s primary trading ally, plummeted by -13.4%, marking the steepest decline since January. Notably, this reflects an ongoing trend with shipments to China diminishing for the eighth consecutive month, subsequent to a -10.9% yoy drop in June.
On the import front, Japan registered a decline of -13.5% yoy to JPY 8804B. This marks the fourth consecutive month of declining imports and is the most significant dip since September 2020. The downturn can be partly attributed to the decreasing commodities prices.
With imports exceeding exports, trade balance for the month ended in a deficit of JPY -78.7B.
When observing the figures in seasonally adjusted terms, both exports and imports displayed a 2.0% mom rise, amounting to JPY 8460B and JPY 9018B respectively. Consequently, trade deficit widened slightly, reaching JPY -557B.
