The result compared with an 11.9 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll. It followed a 12.8 percent year-on-year rise in December, which was the fastest growth in a year. File pic shows a container ship is loaded at a port in Tokyo December 17, 2014. - REUTERS
TOKYO: Japan's exports fell 8.4 percent in January from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Wednesday, in a sign of slowing external demand.
That compared with a 5.5 percent decrease expected by economists in a Reuters poll and followed a revised 3.9 percent decline in December.
Imports fell 0.6 percent in the year to January, versus the median estimate for a 2.8 percent decrease.
The trade balance came to a deficit of 1.415 trillion yen ($12.79 billion), versus the median estimate for a 1.011 trillion yen deficit. - Reuters
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