Japan’s trade surplus expanded 4.7-fold in October from a year earlier to 496.17 billion yen ($4.5 billion), marking a second straight month of black ink, the government said Monday, with falling exports outweighed by a drop in imports tied to lower crude oil prices.
The value of exports dropped 10.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.87 trillion yen, falling for the 13th straight month, dragged down by a firming yen in addition to sluggish steel exports and automobile shipments to the Middle East.
Imports plunged 16.5 percent to 5.37 trillion yen, marking a 22nd straight month of decline, reflecting a continued drop in crude oil prices, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. The value of crude oil imports plunged 27.2 percent.
Japan’s weakening exports reflected “sluggish growth in global trade,” said Toru Suehiro, senior market economist at Mizuho Securities Co. “In addition, a firming yen negatively affected exports” by reducing price competitiveness of Japanese products, he said.
An appreciating yen pushes down import prices but usually hurts exports by making Japanese products more expensive abroad and reduces the value of overseas revenues in yen terms.
via Mainichi
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.