Japan's car exports surge 117%

24 March 2010

Japan's global car shipments increased 117% in February compared with the same period a year ago, despite recalls by Japanese car giants.

The country's electronic machinery exports rose 46% and general machinery shipments surged 31.5%.

As a result of robust global demand for cars and electronics, overall annual Japanese exports surged 45.3% to 5.13 trillion yen (£37.6 billion) during the month.

Japanese finance ministry said that this is the third consecutive month the country's exports are witnessing year-on-year rise.

Shipments to Asia saw annual 56% rise to 2.78 trillion yen (£20.4 billion) during February.

Asia-bound exports, which is more than half of the country's total shipments, indicated the growing importance of Asian markets in Japan's economic recovery.

At the same time, exports to the US jumped 50% to 837 billion yen (£6.14 billion), with car shipments more than doubling and exports to Western Europe rose 20%.

Imports were up 29.5% to 4.48 trillion yen, resulting in a trade surplus of 651 billion yen (£4.6 billion).

Copyright © Press Association 2010