① On Thursday of this week, official data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance showed that Japan's exports in June increased for the seventh consecutive month, driven by strong exports of semiconductor equipment Driven by the continuous growth of chip manufacturing equipment exports, Japan's exports to China have increased for seven consecutive months, with a year-on-year increase of 7.2% in June.
On Thursday of this week, the official data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance showed that Japan's exports in June increased for the seventh consecutive month.
In addition, driven by strong exports of semiconductor equipment to China, Japan's exports to China have also achieved year-on-year growth for the seventh consecutive month.
Japan's export value continues to grow for 7 consecutive months
Preliminary data shows that Japan's total exports in June reached 9.2 trillion yen (approximately 58.7 billion US dollars), an increase of 5.4% compared to the same period last year. The total import value reached 8.9 trillion yen (approximately 56.8 billion US dollars), an increase of 3.2%, achieving growth for the third consecutive month.
With the depreciation of the Japanese yen, Japan's exports have strengthened while imports have weakened. This has reduced Japan's trade deficit to 3.2 trillion yen in the first half of this year, almost half of the same period last year.
In June of this year, Japan's exports of chip related products increased, among which exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment were exceptionally strong, with a year-on-year growth of 37.9%; The export of non-ferrous metals increased by 22% year-on-year. In addition, imports of computers and related products increased by 48.5%, while imports of motors increased by 37.6%.
From the perspective of export destinations, driven by the continuous growth of chip manufacturing equipment exports, Japan's exports to China have increased for seven consecutive months, with a year-on-year increase of 7.2% in June. In addition, Japan's exports to the United States in June increased by 11% year-on-year, reaching 1.9 trillion yen; Japan's overall exports to Asia increased by 7.7% year-on-year in June, while exports to the European Union decreased by 13.4% year-on-year.
Japan's export volume weakened year-on-year
However, while Japan's export volume increased in June, the export volume decreased by 6.2%. This indicates that the reason driving Japan's overall export growth is the increase in prices, not the increase in demand. In addition, Japan's import volume in June decreased by 8.9% year-on-year.
The preliminary data released by the Bank of Japan last week showed that due to the weakness of the yen, Japan's export product prices (calculated in yen) increased by 10.4% in June compared to the same period last year, and import prices increased by 9.5%.
Basically, the increase in import and export volume is due to the depreciation of the yen leading to an increase in import and export prices, "analyzed Taro Saito, an executive researcher at the NLI Institute.
Part of the reason for Japan's weak export volume is the scandal in the Japanese automotive industry. In recent months, five major Japanese car manufacturers, including Toyota and Mazda, have been embroiled in testing scandals, affecting the export of Japanese cars. Saito expects:& quot; Once the economy recovers, I believe exports will recover to some extent.
Taro Saito also believes that "(Japanese) semiconductor exports have been strong because the global IT cycle is improving, and Japan's domestic production and exports are both growing
The revised forecast released by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Group this month shows that the global semiconductor market is expected to grow by 16% this year.