Charts of the Week

Exports rebounded strongly in March 2021, supported by the global economic recovery

04/20/2021
PDF

Japanese exports rose by 16.1% year-on-year in March 2021, after declining by 4.5% the previous month. This has been the biggest increase since November 2017. Although this strong performance partially reflects a positive base effect – Japanese exports were hard hit by the pandemic in spring 2020 – it was nonetheless much higher than the consensus expectations, which anticipated a 11.6% growth. Broken down by destination, Japanese sales abroad increased in the large majority of countries worldwide, especially in China, its leading trading partner, where Japanese exports were very buoyant last month (+37.2% year-on-year in March). Globally, the strong performance of Japanese exports takes place in a context of international trade improvement and of a strong rebound of the Chinese economy. Japan should also benefit from the massive recovery package launched in the United States, which aims especially at bolstering US household consumption.

Japan exports
THE ECONOMISTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS ARTICLE