According to the provisional data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's total exports in October this year came to a value of JPY 5.31 trillion (approx US$60.54 billion), decreasing by 23.2 percent year on year. The decline in October marked the 13th consecutive month of decrease. Japan's exports had fallen by 30.6 percent in September, while back in February they had plunged by nearly half. Meanwhile, the country's imports in October amounted to JPY 4.5 trillion (approx. US$51.32 billion), down 35.6 percent compared to October 2008. Thus, Japan's foreign trade balance for October this year reached JPY 807.09 billion (approx. US$9.2 billion).
In October, Japan's total iron and steel product exports came to about 3.4 million metric tons, up 14.6 percent year on year, totaling a value of JPY 260.63 billion (approx. US$2.97 billion), 38 percent lower than the October 2008 level. At the same time, Japanese iron and steel imports in October this year amounted to 517,068 metric tons, down 35.2 percent year on year, totaling a value of JPY 46.38 billion (approx. US$528.81 million), down 65.1 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, also in October this year, Japanese motor vehicle exports reached 456,978 units, down 36.1 percent year on year, while motor vehicle imports totaled 13,189 units, down 21.7 percent. The country's ship exports totaled 1,886,173 gross tons, increasing by 13.7 percent compared to October 2008.