Exports from Japan declined 5.2% from a year earlier to JPY 6.37 trillion in September 2019, the tenth straight month of decrease, amid weakening global demand and the US-China trade dispute. Among main trading partners, exports dropped to China (-6.7%), the US (-7.9%), Hong Kong (-10.3%), Singapore (-11.4%), Thailand (-14.4%), and Australia (-8.4%), but rose to the Middle East (8.5%), and the EU (3.4%).
Imports to Japan also shrank 1.5%% year-on-year to JPY 6.49 trillion in September, after a marginally revised 11.9% slump in August. Then Japan unexpectedly posted a trade deficit of JPY 123 billion deficit in September 2019, shifting from a JPY 124.1 billion surplus in the same month a year earlier.
