Exports growth beat expectations of an 18.6% rise from economists polled by Reuters, and was higher than the 16.8% seen in May. <\/p>\n
Shipments to Asia rose 22.7%, most notably seeing a 46.4% jump in exports to Taiwan compared to the same period last year. Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, increased 17.6%, while goods sold to the U.S. climbed 13% year on year.<\/p>\n
Japan’s exports have been boosted by shipments of semiconductors, with the AI boom lifting shares of domestic tech companies including Tokyo Electron<\/a>, Renesas Electronics<\/a> and Advantest<\/a> between 50% and 93% so far this year. Semiconductor shipments in June surged 53.8%. <\/p>\n While exports surged by value, volumes climbed just 0.2% in June. Marcel Thieliant<\/a>, head of Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics said the strength in export values is almost entirely a result of soaring export prices, which reflects both the weakening of the yen as well as soaring prices of memory chips. <\/p>\n The Japanese yen<\/a> has weakened to multi-decade lows, and is currently hovering at 163 against the dollar. The benchmark Nikkei 225<\/a> rose 1.56% after the release. <\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Exports remain one of Japan’s\u00a0main economic drivers<\/a>, with its economy growing 0.5% sequentially in the first quarter and at a revised 1.8% on an annualized basis. <\/p>\n Japan’s imports soared 25.4% year on year in June, also the highest growth rate since November 2022 and beating expectations of a 21% jump. <\/p>\n The country saw a massive increase in petroleum imports, with a 59.3% jump year on year as Tokyo copes with higher oil prices due to the Iran war. Japan meets over 87% of its energy needs via imports, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/a><\/p>\n Thieliant wrote that Japan’s crude oil imports rebounded strongly in June, but pointed out that with the Strait of Hormuz now closed again, they will remain below pre-war levels “for a while yet.”<\/p>\n![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
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