Japan's Trade With China Surpasses U.S.
By HIROKO TABUCHI 04.25.07, 6:45 AM ET
Japan's trade with China excluding Hong Kong in the latest fiscal year surpassed its trade with the United States for the first time, the government said Wednesday.
The total value of exports and imports between the Japan and mainland China rose to 25.43 trillion yen (US$214.62 billion) for the year through March, up 9.6 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to Finance Ministry figures.
While Japan's overall trade with China including Hong Kong already exceeded trade with the U.S. back in 2004, the new milestone reflects the growing economic might of China's mainland market.
Japanese exports to mainland China rose 21.2 percent to 11.31 trillion yen (US$95.32 billion; euro70.18 billion), buoyed by booming semiconductor and electronic shipments. Imports grew 13.0 percent to 14.11 trillion yen (US$118.93 billion; euro87.56 billion), led by an increase in auto and metal imports.
That gave Japan a 2.80 trillion yen (US$23.61 billion; euro17.38 billion) trade deficit with mainland China for the year.
China's economy, the world's fourth-largest, is expected to grow 10 percent in 2007 from 10.7 percent last year, according to International Monetary Fund predictions. Growth in the U.S. is expected to slow to 2.2 percent in 2007 from 3.1 percent.
In March, Japan's global trade surplus surged 73.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.633 trillion yen (US$13.8 billion; euro10.1 billion), buoyed partly by a weaker yen. That beat analysts' forecasts that the gap would grow to 1.360 trillion (US$11.5 billion; euro8.5 billion).
Exports for the month rose 10.2 percent, while imports were flat, according to the Finance Ministry.
Tokyo's trade surplus with the U.S. expanded 1.4 percent to 805.3 billion yen (US$6.79 billion; euro5 billion) in March from a year earlier.
Japan's trade with China turned into a surplus of 12.33 billion yen (US$103.99 million; euro76.56 million) for the month due to a decline in coal and food imports.
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