Japan’s exports grow at slower pace in October

By Tuba Ongun

Japan’s exports grew at a slower pace in October, rising 1.6% year-on-year to 9.2 trillion yen ($60.5 billion), according to data released on Thursday.

The climb in overseas shipments was led by car and ship exports, the Finance Ministry data showed.

The figure slowed from a 4.3% annualized increase in September, when it hit a record high of 9.2 trillion yen ($61 billion).

Its imports fell for the seventh consecutive month, down 12.5% year-on-year to 9.8 trillion yen ($64 billion), largely due to lower cost of energy-related purchases.

Japan's trade deficit shrank sharply 70% from a year ago to 662.6 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in October, after posting a 2.4 billion yen (over $400 million) gap in September.