Japan saw its exports rebound 21.5% in 2021, after a sharp decline the previous year amid the pandemic-related economic crisis, with shipments continuing to rise in December despite the Omicron variant.
The country shipped 83,093.1 billion yen (664.6 billion francs) worth of goods last year, with its exports increasing both to China (+19.2%), the United States ( +17.6%) and Western Europe (+15.7%).
Imports from Japan also grew strongly (+24.3%) to 84,565.2 billion yen, in particular from Western Europe (+19.8%) and the United States (+19 .3%), ahead of China (+16.2%).
Japan therefore recorded a trade deficit of 1472.2 billion yen in 2021.
In December alone, shipments of Japanese goods continued to increase despite the spread of the Omicron variant, albeit at a slower pace than the previous month (+17.5% in value over one year, after +20, 5% in November), to 7881.4 billion yen.
Exports to the United States notably increased by 22.1%, those to China by 10.8% and those to Western Europe by 8.7%.
“Omicron has so far hit Europe and the United States particularly hard, but economic activity does not seem to have slowed down too much,” said Takeshi Minami of the Norinchukin Research Institute, quoted by the Bloomberg agency.
“That said, if it also rages across Asia, we risk facing supply chain disruptions again, as happened with the Delta variant,” he said. added.
The acceleration of imports, which had risen in value in November in line with the surge in oil and gas prices, slowed down slightly in December (+41.1% over one year, after +43.8% in November) .
They totaled 8,463.8 billion yen, increasing from the United States (+39.4%) as well as Western Europe (+13.1%) and China (+20.5%).
They also climbed 21.1% from Vietnam (after +3.7% in November), a sign that ‘most factories are running at full capacity again after the disruption of the Delta variant’, commented Tom Learmouth in a note from Capital Economics.
Japan recorded a trade deficit of 582.4 billion yen in December.
/ ATS