Tokyo: Japan's exports rose for the first time in 15 months in December as demand from China and other parts of Asia surged, official data showed Wednesday.
Exports rose 12.1 percent from a year earlier to 5.41 trillion yen (60.4 billion dollars), the first rise in 15 months, while imports fell 5.5 percent to 4.87 trillion yen.
Japan's overall trade surplus came to 545.3 billion yen (6.1 billion dollars) in December, reversing the year-before deficit of 322.2 billion yen.
The surplus was smaller than the figure of around 590 billion yen the market had expected.
Japan's surplus with the rest of Asia posted a more than 22-fold jump to 934.3 billion yen from 41.9 billion yen with Asia-bound shipments rising 31.2 percent. Exports to China alone soared 42.8 percent.
The surplus with the United States fell 4.9 percent to 354.5 billion yen as exports fell for the 28th straight month.
The surplus with the European Union rose 36.5 percent to 156.8 billion yen as exports grew 1.4 percent, the first rise in 17 months.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 11:41