{"id":390814,"date":"2026-03-18T04:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/390814\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:23:09","slug":"japan-exports-beat-forecasts-with-4-2-growth-in-february-but-shipments-to-china-and-u-s-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/390814\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan exports beat forecasts with 4.2% growth in February, but shipments to China and U.S. slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Negishi Maru crude oil tanker sails towards JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp.’s Negishi refinery in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.<\/p>\n

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Japan’s exports climbed 4.2% from a year earlier in February, marking a sharp slowdown after hitting an over-three-year high in January. <\/p>\n

However, the increase was higher than the 1.6% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters, and against the 16.8% jump in the previous month.<\/p>\n

Exports to mainland China, Japan’s largest trading partner, fell 10.9%, while shipments to the U.S. dropped 8%. The total value of auto exports to the U.S., Japan’s biggest export item, fell 14.8%.<\/p>\n

Tokyo’s exports to Washington may weaken further after the U.S. announced Section 301<\/a> investigations that could lead to the reimposition of tariffs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This comes after Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February. <\/p>\n

Despite a drop in exports to its top trading partners, other Asian economies picked up the slack, with outbound goods to Hong Kong spiking by 32.3% from a year earlier. <\/p>\n

Exports to the bloc of 11 Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia and Thailand, increased 5.1%. The total value of outbound goods to the regional grouping surpassed that of mainland China, making it Japan’s second-largest export destination in February.<\/p>\n

Shipments to Western Europe also rose 17.5%, supported by a 10.9% and 18.9% increase in sales to Germany and the U.K., respectively. <\/p>\n

Japan’s export growth in February was supported by a 25.1% jump in the value of semiconductor exports, while motor vehicle exports rose 2.5% year on year. <\/p>\n

The export data comes just before a Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting on Thursday, as well as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the same day stateside. <\/p>\n

Imports to Japan climbed 10.2%, compared with the 11.5% increase expected and January’s 2.6% decline. <\/p>\n

This is breaking news, please check back for updates.<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Negishi Maru crude oil tanker sails towards JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp.’s Negishi refinery in Yokohama…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[4055,7033,79,207,381,178479,356,4056,179,18,178478,122192,19,178480,17,178482,81156,178481,386,126708,178484,16515,178477,4052,72652,8639,13669,384,178483,178476],"class_list":{"0":"post-390814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asia-economy","9":"tag-breaking-news-economy","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-news","12":"tag-china","13":"tag-condor-resources-inc","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-economic-events","16":"tag-economy","17":"tag-eire","18":"tag-franklin-ftse-japan-etf","19":"tag-honda-motor-co-ltd","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-invesco-currencyshares-japanese-yen-trust","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-ishares-currency-hedged-msci-japan-etf","24":"tag-ishares-msci-japan-etf","25":"tag-ishares-msci-japan-small-cap-etf","26":"tag-japan","27":"tag-japanese-yen","28":"tag-jpmorgan-betabuilders-japan-etf","29":"tag-jpmorgan-chase-co","30":"tag-mitsubishi-ufj-financial-group-inc","31":"tag-nikkei-225-index","32":"tag-sony-group-corp","33":"tag-tokyo","34":"tag-toyota-motor-corp","35":"tag-united-states","36":"tag-wisdomtree-japan-hedged-equity-fund","37":"tag-xtrackers-msci-japan-hedged-equity-etf"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}