Japan Trade Surplus Surges on Exports of Autos, Steel
Japan’s August trade surplus widened to 743.2 billion yen ($6.5 billion), three times higher than economists predicted, as car and steel shipments jumped and import growth slowed.
Exports rose at more than twice the pace of imports, the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo today, helping the surplus almost quadruple from a year earlier. The median estimate of 37 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for the gap to swell 23 percent to 235.5 billion yen.
Shipments to Europe and Asia rose to records for the month, reflecting increased orders that may help Japan weather a slowdown in the U.S., the country’s largest market. Future demand for Japanese goods hinges on how much global economic growth cools after the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market caused world stocks to plummet and credit to dry up.
“Export demand was solid across all regions,” said Maiko Noguchi, a senior economist at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Tokyo. “The subprime impact may materialize in coming months so we need to watch developments closely.”
