Asia’s trade recovery is broadening to a host of countries beyond China, according to Japan’s latest export figures showing record shipments to the region.
Exports to the euro zone and the U.S. also racked up healthy gains in March as Japan logged the biggest jump in shipments abroad in more than three years.
While some economists cautioned that figures over the coming months will be inflated by comparison with grim lockdown data from 2020, the latest gains easily outstripped forecasts, adding to positive signs that global trade is continuing to build momentum.
Exports of autos, semiconductors and chip-making equipment all increased, signaling a global shortage of memory chips that has weighed on car production may be easing.
Counting on Trade
Japan needs exports to help drive its recovery
Source: Ministry of Finance
The resumption of production on Saturday at a Renesas Electronics semiconductor factory damaged by a fire in March is also good news for major auto makers going ahead. Toyota, Ford and Nissan are among the companies that use Renesas chips in their cars.
The chip shortage was among the topics discussed by U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at their meeting at the end of last week. The two leaders agreed to collaborate on technology.
Suga needs to strike a balance between maintaining economic ties with China — the engine of growth in Asia — while keeping it in check on the security front.
Here are some more highlights from Japan's report on Monday:
- Japan’s exports jumped 16.1% in March for the biggest gain since November 2017, and by 4.3% from February after seasonal adjustment.
- Export gains to India, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines all topped 20% as shipments within Asia reached 4.2 trillion yen ($38.9 billion).
- Value of shipments to China jumped 37.2% to 1.63 trillion yen, also the highest for comparable data back to 1979.
- Japan’s imports gained 5.7%, with medical items jumping 27.3%. Suga, who spoke with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during his visit to the U.S., now expects to secure enough doses for all-eligible citizens by September.
—Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo
(Correction: Friday’s Supply Lines incorrectly stated the timing of when a ruling in the National Pork Producers Council’s lawsuit of California’s pig law is due. A ruling is expected in mid-summer.)
Charted Territory
Bloomberg rolled out a global flight tracker to monitor the pulse of the air travel comeback. Measuring seats on offer shows that carriers currently have some 62 million seats per week, well short of the 2019 benchmark of 106 million.
Today’s Must Reads
- China realignment plea | The U.S. said China continues to focus its policies on exports, and called on its biggest economic rival to implement forceful measures to boost domestic demand.
- Chip alert | TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, warned for the first time that trade tensions may disrupt its access to key production equipment and hit its operations, amid increasing friction between the U.S. and China.
- Aluminum levies | The 10% duties on imported aluminum from the region should remain in place as the industry waits to see the impact of recent European trade cases against China metal imports, according to Tom Dobbins, president of the Aluminum Association.
- Decoupling warning | A technological decoupling between the U.S. and China and potentially Europe would cut global gross domestic product by an order of magnitude greater than the recent trade war, a senior International Monetary Fund official warned.
- FX watchlist | The U.S. refrained from naming any trading partner as a currency manipulator, even as three met the thresholds for the designation. Switzerland and Vietnam reaffirmed their policies, while Taiwan urged the U.S. to temporarily ease its monitoring of trading partners for FX manipulation during the pandemic.
- FDI uncertainty | Foreign investment uncertainty in Australia jumped in 2020 amid increased international tensions and the politicization of decisions relating to the energy and resources industries, according to a new gauge.
- Climate commitment | U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that she is committed to enforcing environmental rules in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that took effect last year. Separately, Biden is nominating Evercore ISI policy analyst Sarah Bianchi and senior Senate aide Jayme White as USTR deputies.
On the Bloomberg Terminal
- Wheels turning | Even as heavy-truck orders sustain their record pace of six straight months above 40,000 units, including a 229% surge in the first quarter, supply-chain constraints could limit upside potential to 2021 production at Paccar, Navistar and Allison Transmission, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
- Deus ex machina | Despite broad-based supply-chain constraints, U.S. machinery-factory activity improved sequentially at a double-digit pace in March, according to Camgian, which may suggest that disruptions have been largely manageable so far for Caterpillar, Deere and other heavy-equipment producers, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
- Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
- Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains.
- See BNEF for BloombergNEF’s analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.
- Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts.
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— With assistance by Ana Monteiro
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April 19, 2021 at 06:00PM
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Supply Chains Latest: Asia Trade Recovery Widens on Japan Exports. - Bloomberg
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