Economic Indicators

Japan Trade Balance Recovers From Record Low, But Pressure Still on

2022.10.19 22:41



© Reuters.

By Ambar Warrick 

Investing.com– Japan’s trade deficit narrowed more than expected in September, data showed on Thursday, as a bigger-than-anticipated jump in exports helped offset some pressure from increasingly more expensive commodity imports.

The country’s recent reopening to tourists after a two-year COVID lockdown is also expected to further benefit its trade balance in the coming months. 

Japan’s was a deficit of 2.09 trillion yen ($1.4 billion) in September, less than expectations for a deficit of 2.17 trillion yen and down from August’s record-high reading of 2.82 trillion yen, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.  

The improvement was aided largely by a bigger-than expected jump in , which rose 28.9% in September, against expectations of 27.1%. The reading also raced past August’s figure of 22%. Strong shipments of automobiles, electronic components and machinery were the biggest contributors to the rise, as Japan’s manufacturing sector continued to log strong growth despite headwinds from elevated raw material costs. 

But offsetting this, grew a bigger-than-expected 45.9% in September, driven largely by fuel imports. The cost of petroleum imports more than doubled during September, driven largely by volatility in oil markets and further depreciation in the yen.

Still, overall growth in imports was lower than August’s reading of 49.9%.

A steadily weakening is the biggest headwind to Japan’s trade balance this year, given that it makes the import of goods substantially more expensive. The currency slumped to a 32-year low this week amid a widening gap between local and international interest rates. 

The yen showed little reaction to the trade data, and was trading just shy of 150 to the dollar. 

Japan’s economy is expected to face increased headwinds from rising inflation this year. Data is set to shine more light on that front, with inflation expected to have remained elevated through September. 

Despite inflation trending near eight-year highs, the has given no indication that it plans to raise interest rates from record lows in the near-term. But further declines in the yen may spark more intervention in currency markets by the government, as seen in late-September. 

 



Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 68,817.44 0.25%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,437.22 0.87%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.05%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 559.86 0.16%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 161.91 0.32%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.00%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.514268 1.98%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.168334 11.60%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,436.38 0.90%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.162269 1.63%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.330772 0.00%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.60 5.07%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000018 4.87%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,870.61 1.55%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 68,642.39 0.12%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 23.16 1.45%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 2,436.55 0.90%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 338.14 1.30%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 10.49 1.41%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 6.07 0.50%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.992955 0.78%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.82 1.33%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 1.92 2.67%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.98 0.90%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 3.69 1.77%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,552.87 1.26%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 8.19 0.75%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.93 0.49%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000008 0.45%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 7.13 0.49%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999737 0.04%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 427.96 0.17%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.15 1.99%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 159.59 1.23%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.10%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.092232 1.57%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 18.94 0.26%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.93 1.37%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.105965 3.02%
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.999836 0.37%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.297317 0.73%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 1.51 3.85%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 37.44 0.28%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 2.04 0.91%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.34 0.07%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 130.61 0.51%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.071627 0.49%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.480762 0.03%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.556333 0.42%
immutable-x
Immutable (IMX) $ 1.08 0.81%