Japan November chemical exports fall 6.5%; overall shipments dip 0.6%
Japan’s chemical shipments abroad in November fell by 6.5% year on year to yen (Y) 938.1bn, weighing on overall exports, which declined for the first time in three months on continued weak demand from China.
Exports of organic chemicals fell by 5.7% year on year to Y168.6bn in November, while shipments of plastic materials were up by 2.9% at Y258bn, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) showed on Wednesday.
By volume, exports of plastic materials were up by 6.6% at 450,534 tonnes in November.
Japan’s November overall exports slipped by 0.2% year on year to Y8.82tr, while imports fell by a steeper 11.9% to Y9.60tr.
Overall exports to China, its largest trading partner, fell 2.2% year on year to Y1.60tr in November, marking the 12th consecutive month of decline, while shipments to the US increased by 5.3% at Y1.81tr.
Outbound shipments of motor vehicles for the month rose by 18.9% year on year to Y1.67tr, while exports of textile yarns and fabrics were up by 0.8% at Y68.5bn.
Weak external demand is expected to continue weighing on Japan’s manufacturing sector and its overall economic growth in the fourth quarter.
The world’s third-biggest country’s economy shrank by a revised annualized rate of 2.9% in the third quarter, steeper than the initial estimate of a 2.1% contraction due to poor consumption.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the GDP contraction was also revised to 0.7% compared with the initial estimate of a 0.5% decline.
The Bank of Japan on 19 December unanimously voted to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged at its final meeting for this year, maintaining interest rates at -0.1%.
On the country’s growth, the BOJ in a statement noted that Japan’s economy “has recovered moderately” and cited improvements in corporate profits and business sentiment while business fixed investment has been on a “moderate increasing trend”.
The central bank expects the economy to continue recovering moderately for the time being, supported by factors such as the “materialization of pent-up demand” but expects the economy to be “under downward pressure stemming from a slowdown in the pace of recovery in overseas economies”. – Source: ICIS –