The US has supplanted China as the top destination for Japanese exports for the first time since 2009, as the impact of China’s slowdown was exacerbated by the fallout from a territorial spat between Asia’s two largest economies.
Japan on Thursday released trade data for the fiscal year through March, which showed that exports to the US rose 10 per cent from a year earlier to Y11.4tn ($116bn), while shipments to China slipped 9 per cent to Y11.3tn.
Demand for Japanese goods in China fell almost across the board, with particularly steep declines in the value of exports of power-generating machinery, motor vehicles and iron and steel products. In the US, meanwhile, Japan saw much stronger demand for its cars, car parts and electrical machinery.