Japan’s imports from China plunge in February

Japan’s imports from China almost halved last month from a year earlier to log the steepest fall since 1986 as the new coronavirus outbreak disrupted trade, official data showed yesterday.

February imports from China, Japan’s biggest trade partner along with the United States, plunged 47.1 per cent to 673.4 billion yen ($6.3 billion) while exports slipped 0.4 per cent to 1.14 trillion yen.

“The virus outbreak hampered manufacturing activities in China, which naturally resulted in drops in Japanese imports from there,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

As the virus woes in China calm, import drops will likely narrow but there are mounting worries over the US and Euro-pean economies, Minami said.

“As the outbreak goes global, US and European demand is bound to shrink ... Even if Japan makes products,

there will be no good place to ship,” Minami told the news agency.

 

Japans imports from China plunge in February

Japans imports from China almost halved last month from a year earlier to log the steepest fall since 1986 as the new coronavirus outbreak disrupted trade, official data showed yesterday. February imports from China, Japans biggest trade partner along with the United States, plunged 47.1 per cent to 673.4 billion yen ($6.3 billion) while exports slipped 0.4 per cent to 1.14 trillion yen. The virus outbreak hampered manufacturing activities in China, which naturally resulted in drops in Japanese imports from there, said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. As the virus woes in China calm, import drops will likely narrow but there are mounting worries over the US and Euro-pean economies, Minami said. As the outbreak goes global, US and European demand is bound to shrink ... Even if Japan makes products, there will be no good place to ship, Minami told the news agency.