Trade balance in the first half of 2019 ends with deficit affected by the US-China trade war

-

According to the trade statistics for the first half of 2019 announced by the Ministry of Finance on July 18, Japanese trade balance which is the value of exports minus that of imports was a deficit of 888.8 billion yen for the second consecutive period following last year.
Due to trade friction between the US and China, exports to China fell for the first time in five quarters. The breakdown was that exports amounted to  38,240.4 billion yen, down 4.7% from the same period last year and imports amounted to 39,129.2 billion yen, down 1.1%.
It is the first time in two years since 2017 that the export for first half fell below 40 trillion yen. The imports fell for the first time since the second half of 2016.
The trade balance between China was the deficit of 2,049.3 billion yen.
Exports to China fell by 8.2% to 7,030.1 billion yen, as the US-China trade friction slowed the economy and curbs capital investment in the country.
Equipment to manufacture semiconductors for liquid crystal devices decreased by 21.4% and semiconductors and related parts for integrated circuits decreased by 14.4%.
As for the United States, Japan posted a surplus of 3,459 billion yen for the first half since the second half of 2017.
Exports increased 5.2% to 7,811.8 billion yen with strong sales of automotive and semiconductor products.
The demand to eliminate the deficit may intensify in negotiations for the new US-Japan trade agreement because US President Donald Trump has been taking the issue of the trade deficit with Japan.

 Photo provided by the Nagoya Port Authority

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Food and Drinks: Kaiten-sushi serves fresh and high quality of seafood

-
Image
Conveyor belt sushi , also known as Kaiten-sushi is a semi-self-service type, inexpensive sushi restaurant where small plates bringing various types of sushi on them are continuously circulated on chain conveyors installed along the seats.  Fresh and well-made sushi can be enjoyed for relatively cheap prices there. Plates typically come with one or two sushi pieces each and customers pick up plates they like. Customers can also place orders through a touch screen at each table when sushi they like is not available on conveyor belts.  Those Sushi are usually served on plates with several colors showing their prices ranging from 100 yen to around 500 yen. Some restaurants set the same price for all plates. The lowest price for a plate is usually 100 yen. That is why Kaiten-sushi is often called "100 yen sushi" and very popular among Japanese. Customers are given their bills from a staff who counts plates when they finish eating. Kaiten-sushi has grown thanks to technologie...
Read more

Investing in Japan: Menicon, a leading Japanese contact lens manufacturer, aims overseas market expansion

-
Image
Menicon secured profit growth amid COVID-19 disruptions Menicon Co., Ltd. is a leading contact lens manufacturer in Japan founded in 1951, headquartered in Nagoya. It consistently develops, manufactures and sells contact lenses and related products in-house. To date, Menicon has developed various types of contact lenses such as hard lenses, soft lenses, disposables (disposable), lenses for astigmatism and bifocal lenses. It has the No. 1 market share for hard lenses and the No. 2 market for soft lenses in Japan.  As for the recent consolidated financial results, Menicon announced that net income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 was 4 billion yen, up 14% from the previous year. While the sales and profits of most Japanese companies fell sharply due to the spread of new coronavirus infections, Menicon increased its sales by 4.5% from the previous year to 84.5 billion yen, a record high for the fifth consecutive year since listing of its stock. On the other hand, the earning...
Read more

Investing in Japan: Toyota shows its strength shrugging off pandemic damage and semiconductor shortage

-
Image
COVID-19 cases rise in Japan amid state of emergency, Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to be downsized The Japanese government has decided to add three prefectures to its state of emergency as coronavirus cases continue to rise.   Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on May 14 that he decided to expand a COVID-19 state of emergency covering Tokyo and other areas to three more prefectures as infections continue to surge ahead of the Summer Olympics.  Starting on May 15, it will cover Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima in an effort to curb infections and ease the strain on medical systems. The government will also designate three more prefectures as areas where intensive virus measures should be taken which is often called “Manbou”, acronym in Japanese for quasi-emergency to contain the virus.  Daily new cases have been on the rise nationwide in recent weeks reaching more than 6,000 for the fourth straight day as of May 14. The recent spike in new cases forces the organizers of ...
Read more