A line of trucks parked outside a shipping terminal in Yokohama, Japan on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023.
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Exports of Japan October rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, marking a 43-month low after a fall in September.
The climb beat expectations of a 2.2 percent increase among economists polled by Reuters, and is a reversal from a 1.7 percent decline in September.
Japanese exports grew the most to the Middle East region, recording a 35.4 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, government data showed.
Imports for Asia’s second-largest economy by GDP rose 0.4%, compared with expectations for a 0.3% drop in a Reuters poll.
Thus, Japan’s trade deficit widened to 461.2 billion yen ($2.98 billion), higher than a Reuters poll of 360.4 billion expected and compared with September’s revised figure of 294.1 billion yen.
In a Nov. 19 note, Daniel Hurley, global equities portfolio specialist at T. Rowe Price, said a key area to watch for Japan equities is U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade relations with partners. There will be plans.
Tariffs are clearly the biggest threat to an open and exporting economy like Japan, he said, noting that the country has a very close relationship with the US, and Trump in particular.
He added: “An increase in tensions over tariffs and trade between the US and China will have an impact on global trade and global growth.”
