TOKYO: Japanese exports to China fell in 2015 for the first time in three years, according to a trade report published by Japan’s Ministry of Finance. Exports to its Asian neighbour, which accounted for 19.2 percent of all Japanese exports in December 2015, fell 8.6 percent that month, with a 1.1 percent drop for the whole of 2015, People.cn reports.
The fall in exports to China represent a wider theme for Japan, whose total exports dropped 8 percent year-on-year in 2015. Exports to Asia in general, which accounts for over half of the country’s exports, fell 10.3 percent in December.
Japanese Minister of Finance, Taro Aso, admitted that the country may adjust its economic policies if trade with China continue experiencing depression. Digital news outlet Quartz reports that despite the fall in exports, Japan continued to post a trade surplus in December, due only to the fact that the country’s imports fell even faster.