China's Textile And Clothing Exports To Japan Show A Downward Trend

According to the statistics of China Customs and the Ministry of economy and industry of Japan, in January 2010 -4, China's textile and clothing pairs Japan Exports showed a downward trend. Later this year, Japan will face greater pressure on exports, because consumption growth in Japan may be tempered by the downturn in the job market and the debt crisis.

China's export to Japan has slowed down. January 2010 -4 months, China's textile And clothing exports to Japan totaled $6 billion 849 million, down 3.67% from a year ago, a decrease of 8.08 percentage points compared with -4 months in January 2009, while exports to the United States and the European Union increased by 20.61% and 16.34% respectively, up 21.81% and 27.65% respectively over the January 2009 -4 months. In January 2010 -4, textile and clothing products accounted for about 12.39% of Japanese exports, down 2.5% from January 2009 -4, while exports to the United States and the European Union accounted for 15.53% and 20.52% respectively, up 0.62% and 0.10% compared to the same period last year.

Statistics from Japan further showed that in January 2010 -4, imports of textiles and clothing from Japan totaled 7 billion 846 million US dollars, down 4.52% from the same period last year, narrowing by 11.46 percentage points compared with that in January 2009 -4. Japanese data also showed that Japan's textile and clothing imports from China showed a downward trend.

Japan this year Clothing consumption Growth is moderate. In April, the total retail sales volume in Japan increased by 3.8% to 420540 billion yen compared with the same period last year. Higher fuel prices and sustained mechanical sales drive overall retail sales. However, in April, Japanese retail sales of textiles and clothing fell by 9.18% to 17710 billion yen.

China has reduced the market share of the Japanese market, because competitors such as Vietnam and Thailand are growing faster than China. In January 2010 -4, imports of textiles and clothing from Vietnam totaled 418 million US dollars, up 3.59% over the same period last year. It accounted for 4.08% of the total Japanese textile and clothing imports, an increase of 0.24% over the same period last year. In January 2010 -4, Japanese textile and clothing imports from Thailand totaled US $204 million, up 5.52% over the same period last year, accounting for 1.99% of Japan's total imports, up 0.15% over the same period last year.

Experts attributed Vietnam's export growth to two factors. First, Vietnam has low labor costs. Second, the Vietnam Japan economic partnership agreement (VJEPA) came into effect in October 1, 2009, which greatly promoted the export of Vietnamese exporters to Japan. Japan's tariffs on Vietnam's exports have been substantially reduced. Especially in the first year of VJEPA implementation, 86% of Vietnam's tariffs on Japanese exports fell to zero, and the process will be completed in 10-15 years. This means that if exports to Japan, Vietnamese enterprises can save a lot of money.

The Japanese government's total debt is 882 trillion and 900 billion yen (about 97 trillion dollars), or 229% of GDP, which is far larger than Greece from absolute scale and GDP ratio, and is expected to increase to 235% by the end of 2010.

China's share of the Japanese market is too high to raise substantially. Meanwhile, China's exports to Japan will continue to be depressed by the imbalance in the recovery of Japan's economy.