As of February, Japan’s export volume rose for 15 months in a row, but the rate of increase in February dropped sharply. This was due to the impact of the Chinese New Year holiday in February. Analysts believe this is a one-time effect and the overall overseas market demand remains the same. Stay strong.

Data released by the Ministry of Finance on Monday showed that exports in February rose 1.8%, in line with analysts' expectations of 1.9%. January exports rose 12.3%.

The data showed that in February Japan's exports fell 2.1% year-on-year, the first decline in 13 months.

Analysts expect that the international demand for semiconductors and electronics industry will continue to support the rising export volume. However, President Trump's import tariff policies on steel and aluminum materials may cause trade war.

“In view of the large number of overseas machinery manufacturing orders and the continued high global market sentiment, we believe export prospects are good,” said Yuichiro Nagai, an analyst at Barclays Securities.

According to the trade data, the volume of products exported to China in February fell by 9.7% year-on-year, according to regional figures.

In January-February, Japan’s volume of products exported to Asia fell by 3.2%. Products that accounted for more than half of Japan’s total exports were exported to Asia.

Affected by the demand for hybrid vehicles, Japan's total exports to the United States increased by 4.3% in January-February and the number of cars exported to the United States rose by 12.3%.

In February, Japan's trade surplus with U.S. exports rose by 3.4% year-on-year to 631 billion yen (US$5.94 billion), the first increase in three months. At this time, Trump adhered to the "U.S. First" policy and tried to repair the trade deficit with other countries through bilateral trade agreements.

Source: China Steel Price Net