Japan: imports from Italy doing well

During the first five months of 2005, Japan's imports from Italy increased by 5.7% compared to the same period 2004 and stood at 2,950 million US dollars, whereas exports fell by 9.9% to 2,619 million.

Japan's imports from the world grew by 15.3% to 205,536 million dollars and exports increased by 6.9% and a value of 240,121 million.

At 21.8%, the upturn in imports from China continues, there has been a 31% acceleration from Opec, and a 2.4% increase from the USA. Imports from the EU stand at +5.5%, but Germany has shifted into a higher gear (+10.2%) compared to France (+5.1%) and Italy (+5.7%).

Japanese exports still haven't taken off and are only much higher than average to Taiwan (16.6%) and to Opec (16.1%), but exports to the EU are more or less unchanged (-0.1%).

For imports from Italy, the excellent trend of Italy's chemical segment has been confirmed, with pharmaceutical products at +38.5%, organic chemical products +12.4%, cosmetics +45.2%. Electrical machinery is also doing well at +43.7%.

The negative variations for fashion have disappeared: leatherwork 14.7%, jewelry 8.3% (silver 11.4%), footwear 3%, knitwear 0.6% (supported by T-shirts 27.2%). In the food sector, fats and oils stand at +9.8%, and drinks are picking up speed at +6.7%, still wines +0.4%, sparkling wines +33.1%, liqueurs +13.9%, mineral water +62.3%. Fewer losses for the automobile and spares sectors -17.1%, precision instruments -9.2%, and furniture -8.2%.