Weaker Yen Helping Exports into Europe

Japan’s trade gap with the European Union shrank to the smallest in nearly two years, as the weaker yen gave exporters a boost in the nation’s third-biggest market.

While the 17 billion yen ($143 million) deficit in October was far from a surplus of 525 billion yen that Japan posted with the economic region in February 2008 before the global financial crisis intensified, the trend is toward improvement, according to Toru Suehiro, an economist at Mizuho Securities Co.

“Japan’s exports to the EU have been robust because of the yen’s depreciation against the euro and the recovery of the EU economy from the bottom in 2011,” said Suehiro. “Japan’s domestic demand is still weak so the trade balance with the EU will continue to improve.”

Bloomberg