Japan Exports Plummet Record 35%, Signaling Job Cuts

January 22nd, 2009

Via: Bloomberg:

Japan’s exports plunged by a record in December, signaling companies will be forced to shut factory lines and fire more workers, driving the economy deeper into recession.

Exports plummeted 35 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest decline since 1980, the earliest year for which there is comparable data, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. The December drop eclipsed a record 26.7 percent decline set the previous month. Economists predicted a 30.3 percent contraction.

Shipments to the U.S., China and Europe fell by the most ever, as the global recession dried up demand for Japanese cars and electronics. Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are shedding thousands of workers and closing production lines as profits and sales dwindle.

“This recession will be deep and widespread,” said Kyohei Morita, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. “Given today’s numbers, households should prepare for more job and wage cuts.”

Posted in Collapse, Economy | Top Of Page

One Response to “Japan Exports Plummet Record 35%, Signaling Job Cuts”

  1. tochigi says:
    January 23, 2009 at 5:50 am

    now i’m starting to get worried.

    if you had a list of say:

    1.US
    2. China
    3. Europe
    4. Japan
    5. rest of Asia/Pacific

    i would say numbers one and two are really fcuked, number three is fairly fcuked and numbers four and five are a somewhat fcuked but in relative terms not that bad.

    but this does look suspiciously like tshtf big time. can’t see how hyper-inflation can be avoided in the US and possibly parts of Europe. ouch. vege garden. plant vege garden.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.