In July Japan's exports fell sharply, the sharpest in the last six months, to the point of making analysts question the stability of global demand. Japanese export is literally collapsed in trade with the European Union (-25,1%, tenth consecutive drop and worst figure since October 2009), but also towards China the contraction was more than significant (-8,1% on an annual basis, second consecutive decline).
The figure is decidedly worse than economists' expectations (-2,9%) and pushes the deficit the trade balance Japan, which scored last month a deficit of more than 517 billion yen, against the surplus of 61,7 billion in June.
“The European debt crisis is the first factor weighing on exports, and the pace of decline is striking. It is comparable to the post-Lehman situation – comments Masayuki Kichikawa, chief economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch for Japan – We hoped that Chinese domestic demand would support the Japanese economy, but the story is different”.
In July, Japanese exports increased only to US Use, where activity climbed 4,7% (ninth consecutive increase).
