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Japan’s export growth slowed in March, according to data from the Treasury Department. Declines in car and steel exports to China underscored worries about slowing global demand on the back of Western banks.
Imports grew faster than exports in March due to higher prices for coal, crude oil and oil products, pushing the annual trade deficit in the world’s third-largest economy to a record 21.7 trillion yen ($161 billion).
A 16.5% depreciation of the yen since the same month a year earlier has boosted the value of imports rather than boosting exports.
Thursday’s data showed March exports rose 4.3% from a year earlier, marking the 25th straight month of export growth, driven mainly by US auto exports. That was higher than economists’ average estimate of a 2.6% increase, but lower than February’s 6.5% increase.
Imports rose 7.3% in March, below the average estimate of 11.4% and following an 8.3% increase in the previous month.
The trade balance came in at a deficit of 754.5 billion yen in March against the median estimate of a deficit of 1.29 trillion yen in March, following a deficit of 897 billion yen in February.
By region, exports to the US rose 9.4% in the period to March, up from 14.9% in the previous month.
Exports to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, fell 7.7% in March, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, trade data showed.
($1 = 134.7400 yen)
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