Japan’s exports rose in October, on higher shipments of cars and ships, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Thursday.
Exports rose 1.6% on the year, a second consecutive month of growth.
Economists polled by data provider FactSet had expected exports to rise 1.5%.
Exports to the EU and the U.S. led the growth among regional destinations, rising 8.9% and 8.4% on the year, respectively. The increase was driven by shipments of products such as cars.
However, lower shipments of products such as steel led to a decline in exports to China and Asia, which fell 4.0% and 5.3%, respectively.
Imports fell 12.5%, mainly due to lower demand for products such as coal, crude oil and liquefied natural gas, the data showed.