January 2010 figures

JAPAN (YEN)
Export Jan 2010: M-o-M (-45.7%);
Import Dec 2009: M-o-M (%);

Total Trade 2009:


Taiwan
Export Dec 2009: Y-o-Y (+75.8%);
Import Dec 2009: M-o-M ();



CHINA

Export Dec 2009 M-o-M (-16.3%) Y-o-Y (+21%)
Import Dec 2009 M-o-M (-15.1%) Y-o-Y (+85.5%)



JAPAN

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Japan Exports Fall By 46% in January, Producing Record Trade Deficit

Japan has been hit by a double-whammy: the global fall in trade, made worse by its (formerly) rising yen.

While deteriorating conditions in China generally get more media attention, the falloff in Japan is stunning and serious. Japan has spent more than a decade stagnant, but the overall growth figures mask the fact that the domestic economy contracted, while the export sector exhibited good growth.

The export plunge (December’s results horrid too, a 35% fall in exports), means that Japan’s only engine of growth has gone into stall. China, by contrast, is not as dependent of trade for its overall performance as is popularly believed (commercial real estate and infrastructure spending have also been important sources, although CRE has taken a dive too).

The fact that Japan is now running trade deficits also means they will not be accumulating foreign exchange reserves, specifically buying Treasuries (Japan could still buy Treasuries to lower the value of its currency, but the terrible economic news has already put the yen on a downward path).

From Bloomberg:


Japan’s exports plunged 45.7 percent in January, resulting in a record trade deficit, as recessions in the U.S. and Europe smothered demand for the country’s cars and electronics…

Gross domestic product shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace last quarter, the most since the 1974 oil shock, and economists predict the slump will drag into this quarter. Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. — all of which forecast losses — are firing thousands of workers, heightening the risk the recession will deepen.

“The drop in exports is unbelievably bad,” said Yasuhide Yajima, a senior economist at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo. “The pressure on companies to cut jobs and investment is rising and that will make the recession deep and protracted.”…

Japan’s economy, the world’s second largest, may shrink a record 4 percent in the year starting April 1, faster than this year’s projected decline of 2.9 percent, according to the median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The worst contraction to date was fiscal 1998’s 1.5 percent drop.


TAIWAN

Taipei - Taiwan's exports and imports leaped to a three-decade high in January, posting record increases thanks to the global economic recovery, the Finance Ministry said Monday. In January, Taiwan's exports totalled 21.75 billion US dollars, up 75.8 per cent from the same period last year, marking its biggest single-month increase since August 1976, the ministry said in a statement.

Imports amounted to 19.25 billion US dollars, representing a 114.7 per cent year-on-year increase, the biggest since September 1974, it said.

The ministry cited the bottoming out of the world's financial crisis, strong increases in global demand and the relatively low comparison basis against last year as the major reasons for the sharp increases.

China remained Taiwan's biggest export market, with the island shipping goods worth 9.54 billion US dollars, accounting for 43.9 per cent of the total value of Taiwan's exports.

Europe followed second, buying goods worth 2.43 billion dollars from Taiwan, or 11.2 per cent of the island's exports, followed by the United States with 2.22 billion dollars and Japan's 1.47 billion dollars.


Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308082,taiwans-exports-imports-jump-sharply-in-january.html#ixzz0f5f3YfXn


CHINA

China's exports and imports surged on a yearly basis in January, government data showed on Wednesday, a day after Germany conceded its top exporter title to the Asian nation.

Exports surged 21% year-on-year to $109.48 billion in January, the General Administration of Customs said. This came below expectations for a 28% increase following the 17.7% gain in the previous month.

Imports jumped 85.5% to $95.31 billion, faster than the 55.9% increase a month ago. Economists were looking for an 85.2% rise.

On a monthly basis, however, exports slumped 16.3% while imports were down 15.1%.

The strong nature of the year-on-year numbers is due partly to comparison with low activity in January 2009, when Chinese firms were inactive for the Lunar New Year holiday. This year, the holiday falls in February.

China's trade surplus stood at $14.17 billion in January, down sharply from the $18.43 billion surplus recorded in December.