According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Tokyo, on May 21, the Ministry of Finance of Japan said that in April 2020, the country’s export turnover dropped the strongest in more than 10 years, mainly due to negative impacts. of acute respiratory tract infection COVID-19.

 Specifically, Japan’s export turnover in April reached 5,200 billion yen (about 48 billion USD), down 21.9% compared to the same period last year. This is the 17th consecutive month the country’s export turnover has dropped and is the strongest decline since the 23.2% reduction in October 2009 due to the impact of the global financial crisis. Notably, the export turnover of goods, especially automobiles, to the US and Europe has declined sharply.

 Meanwhile, imports decreased by 7.2% to 6,130 billion yen. This is the 12th consecutive month that Japan’s import turnover has decreased. As a result, Japan had a trade deficit of 930.4 billion yen (8.6 billion USD) in April. This was the first time in 3 months that Japan had a trade deficit.

 By market, exports to the US experienced the sharpest decline (37.8%) to 879.8 billion yen, mainly due to the decline in demand for automotive and aircraft engines. The context of many major US cities was frozen because the COVID-19 epidemic caused production to be delayed. Meanwhile, imports from the world’s largest economy increased by 1.6% to 698.63 billion yen, mainly due to increased imports of airplanes, meat and pharmaceuticals, causing Japan to run a trade deficit of 181, 17 billion yen to the US.

  For China, Japan’s export turnover to this neighboring country only decreased by 4.1% to 1.180 billion yen, while imports increased by 11.7% to 1,730 billion yen. Accordingly, Japan’s trade deficit with China stood at 552.6 billion yen.

  Japan also has a trade deficit with the European Union (EU) but lower levels (191.18 billion yen). In particular, Japan’s export turnover to this sector decreased by 28% to 483.51 billion yen, while imports only fell 6.8% to 674.68 billion yen.