JAPAN EXPORTS RISE IN DECEMBER 2020, THE FIRST IN 25 MONTHS

Japan's exports in December 2020 rose 2.0 percent from a year earlier for the first increase in 25 months, boosted by brisk shipments to China in a sign that the initial impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic has eased, government data showed, Kyodo News reported.

Meanwhile, the country's total exports in 2020 plunged 11.1 percent from the previous year to 68.41 trillion yen ($660 billion), marking the largest fall in 11 years, as the pandemic battered global demand for industrial products such as cars, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.

December's exports stood at 6.71 trillion yen, boosted by a 10.2 percent jump in shipments to China due to strong demand for items such as plastic and refined copper. The country's exports had seen the longest stretch of decline from December 2018 to November last year since comparable data became available in January 1979, amid heightened US-China trade tensions and the coronavirus pandemic.

But uncertainty remains over the outlook for Japan's exports amid a recent resurgence of virus infections across the globe. In December, the country's shipments to the United States and the European Union were still down 0.7 percent and 1.6 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

A 3.9 percent rise in auto shipments to the world's biggest economy was offset by a 59.4 percent plunge in exports of aircraft parts. In the reporting month, imports fell 11.6 percent to 5.96 trillion yen, down for the 20th straight month, leading the country to post a goods trade surplus of 751.01 billion yen, the sixth consecutive month of black ink.

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