Japan’s Sept. exports slip for 10th month
BOJ may ease as soon as next week
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan’s exports contracted for a 10th straight month in September, adding to speculation the central bank could ease monetary policy as soon as next week to support an economy hit by a slowdown in global demand.
A bitter Sino-U.S. trade war and slowing growth in China have heightened the risks of a global recession, darkening the outlook for Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest.
Exports in September slumped 5.2 percent from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday, dragged down by car and airplane parts to the United States and semiconductor production equipment to South Korea.
The fall was larger than a 4.0 percent drop expected by economists and marked the longest run of declines in exports since a 14-month stretch from October 2015 to November 2016.
In volume terms, exports fell 2.3 percent in the year to September, the second consecutive month of declines.
The extended fall in exports comes after the government lowered its assessment of the economy on Friday, raising a warning flag over weakness in exports.
That, among other factors, has triggered calls from some Japanese policymakers the government is ready to take fiscal measures if extra economic support was needed.
“There is a possibility that there will be another fall in exports hereafter,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance.
“Though overall conditions are currently stable, it would become a factor for monetary easing if it did affect Japan’s economy as a whole.”
Markets are rife with speculation the Bank of Japan could ease at its Oct. 30-31 meeting, after it said at its rate review last month it would take a more thorough look at whether rising overseas risks could derail Japan’s fragile economic recovery.
The BOJ will “certainly” reduce short- to medium-term interest rates if it needed to ease monetary policy, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told Reuters on Saturday.
By region, exports to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, slipped 6.7 percent year-on-year in September, down for the seventh month as shipments of auto parts declined, offsetting a rise in those of electronic chips for semiconductors.
Exports to Asia — which account for more than half of Japan’s overall exports — dropped 7.8 percent in the year to September, falling for the 11th month, hurt by a 18.7 percent slide in semiconductor manufacturing parts, especially those to South Korea, which has been in a trade dispute with Japan.
Japan’s exports to the United States fell 7.9 percent in the year to September, weighed down by reduced shipments of cars over 3000cc and aircraft motors and parts.
Imports from the United States slipped 11.6 percent in September, causing Japan’s trade surplus with the world’s top economy to narrow by 3.5 percent from a year earlier to 564.1 billion yen ($5.2 billion), the trade data showed.