Japan’s imports registered a year-on-year drop of 7.2% in April, to 6 trillion 132,732 million yen, the Ministry of Finance reported on Thursday.

Conversely, its product exports fell 21.9% to $ 5 trillion, $ 202,331 million.

In general, international trade has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, first affecting Asia, then Europe, America and the rest of the world.

Thus, the world economy changed from a trend of moderate expansion to a sharp slowdown due to the effects of trade frictions and the impact of the expansion of COVID-19.

Value of exports and imports April 2020 (provisional)

Of particular relevance to Japan, automotive markets plummeted in China and some emerging countries, but were initially stable in developed countries.

The Covid-19 has already begun to have a major impact, leading to the suspension of operations in factories and the suspension of business at distributors worldwide.

Imports and exports

In 2019, Japan ranked as the fifth largest merchandise exporter in the world, with $ 706 billion, a decrease of 4% year-on-year, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

As for the import leaders, Japan was placed in the fourth position, with 721 million dollars.

The same in exports as in imports of products, the Japanese economy covers 3.7% of the world total.

Customs

The Japanese Customs Administration, under the Ministry of Finance, continues to administer and apply customs legislation. The Ministry’s Customs and Tariffs Office formulates customs and tariff policies. Japan has nine regional customs offices.

The Japanese Customs Administration launched its authorized economic operators program in March 2006 and has since developed it to simplify customs procedures and facilitate legitimate trade.

Importers, exporters, manufacturers, warehouse operators, customs brokers and logistics operators may be licensed economic operators in Japan.

Importers who are concerned with cargo security management and who have a good record of compliance can file the import declaration and the duty / tax declaration separately, allowing the release of their goods before the presentation of the declaration of payment of duties / taxes. Import declarations can be presented before the arrival of the cargo.