Japan with drastic export slump in April

The corona pandemic is clearly leaving its mark on the Japanese economy. The exits collapsed massively.

Tokyo (AP) - Japan's exports fell as sharply in April as they had in more than ten years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result of shrinking overseas demand, exports to the world's third largest economy shrank 21.9 percent year-on-year to 5.2 trillion yen (44 billion euros), the Tokyo government announced on a preliminary basis. This is the sharpest decline since October 2009, when Japan's exports fell 23.2 percent in the wake of the global financial crisis. Japan's exports have been declining for a year and a half. Car exports even fell by 50.6 percent in April, while Japan exported 39.2 percent less auto parts.

Japan's imports declined 7.2 percent to 6.1 trillion yen in the reporting month, the 12th consecutive month. As a result, Japan's trade balance showed a deficit of 930.4 billion yen for the first time in three months. The government expects the downward trend to continue in May. The third largest economy in the world before Germany had shrunk for the second time in a row in the first quarter of this year, causing Japan to be in recession. In the current second quarter, economists expect the economic downturn to be significantly greater before a recovery should start in the second half of this year.