Japan reports surprise trade surplus of Y69 billion in April
TOKYO —
Japan reported a trade surplus of 68.95 billion yen in April, down 85% from a year earlier, amid recent signs of a bottoming out in exports, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. Exports fell 39.1% to 4,196.91 billion yen, while imports shrank 35.8% to 4,127.96 billion yen, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
It was Japan’s third straight monthly surplus, following a record deficit in January when the global economic downturn had triggered a collapse in worldwide demand for the country’s cars, electronics and other goods.
“Japanese exports appear to have bottomed in February, led by exports to Asia,” said Kyohei Morita, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital.
“We believe exports will continue to follow a moderate recovery trend, led by exports to Asia, especially China,” he added.
Exports were down 39.1% in April from a year earlier, marking an improvement compared with a year-on-year drop of 45.5% in March and a record fall of 49.4% in February.
Exports posted a second straight increase month-on-month, noted Naoki Murakami, chief economist at Monex Securities.
“But the pace of the recovery in exports is not very strong,” he said.
Japan announced last week that its economy suffered its sharpest contraction on record in the three months to March, shrinking 4% compared with the previous quarter.
The economy will probably avoid a contraction in the current quarter thanks to government stimulus spending and a recovery in exports, said Masamichi Adachi, an economist at JPMorgan Securities.
“But that doesn’t mean we’ll have sustainable growth through the next few years because the fiscal stimulus will fade away next year.
“In the short-term, we are rather optimistic. But after that there are many challenges facing the Japanese economy,” he said.
In an effort to ease the recession, the government has announced a series of economic stimulus packages, including a 15.4 trillion yen injection unveiled last month.
The government on Monday upgraded its assessment of Asia’s biggest economy for the first time in more than three years, saying that while the situation was still tough “the tempo of worsening has become moderate.”
Japan’s factory production rose for the first time in six months in March and data due out on Friday is expected to show the first back-to-back increases in output in more than a year in April.
Wire reports
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biglittleman
I believe the books have been cooked. Just like police crime reports.
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LostinNagoya
Perhaps these numbers are real. Other countries are recovering well, and they will import from exporter countries - even if not so much as before.
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hakujinsensei
Who cares if the figures are meaningless!!
They will fool plenty of people to get things rolling.
pollyannna was right! revel in the new reality!
yeah! go japan! nippon daiichi!!
my life would be so boring if I did not live here.
and it would be even more had I not learned to read japanese to get the more ridiculous news off the jsites.
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ronaldk
The incredible shrinking surplus.
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mindovermatter
That's it... Don't buy any of the U.S. stuff to help off-set their huge trade deficit (which is part of the reason "The World" is in this mess), God forbid you were actually an Equal trading partner...
Just continue to horde your money away and wait it out and only buy domestic products and services, until the U.S. finally collapses OR something magical happens...
Remember Fair Trade doesn't apply to you, it's only the U.S. that has to play buy those rules..
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hakujinsensei
mindovermatter: do you think that people, companies or countries play fair? its all about number one baby and as far as japan is concerned, getting the GNP is the most important thing. and part of that is the GDP. there was this book, Pollyanna...
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geronimo2006
Oh No! Another trade surplus. I'm just shattered. Could mean an even higher yen. I might have to pay less for my next holiday or mortgage. How devastating. Nevermind. Just thinking about it. Are there any English speaking countries that make trade surpluses? GM is just a sign of the times.
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