Growing demand from Asia helped Japan's exports surge 40.4 per cent in April from a year earlier to 5.89 trillion yen (65.4 billion dollars), the Finance Ministry said Thursday, according to dpa. It was the fifth-consecutive month of increase as shipments of motor vehicles soared 103.1 per cent from April 2009, those of auto parts surged 61.7 per cent, and semiconductors and electronic components exports rose 35.5 per cent, the ministry said in a preliminary report. Japan's exports to the rest of Asia jumped 45.3 per cent to 3.32 trillion yen, constituting 56.4 per cent of its total exports, while shipments to the United States increased 34.5 per cent to 878.4 billion yen, representing 14.9 per cent of the total, the ministry said. Shipments to the European Union grew 19.8 per cent to 665.8 billion yen, the fifth-straight month of expansion, the ministry said. The statistics reinforced the growing importance of Asian markets in the recovery of the world's second-largest economy. Exports to China, Japan's top trading partner, rose for the sixth-straight month with a 41.4-per-cent increase to 1.15 trillion yen. Shipments of motor vehicles to China soared 126.3 per cent, those of scientific and optical instruments jumped 88 per cent and auto parts exports rose 49.7 per cent. Japan's imports rose 24.2 per cent to 5.15 trillion yen. As a result, Japan's trade surplus stood at 742.3 billion yen, the ministry said. It was the 13th-consecutive month of surplus.
