Japan’s export growth slows

Japan’s exports rose in April from a year earlier led by US-bound shipments of cars, but the monthly pace of growth slowed from March — a worrying portent for external demand as a slowdown in the economies of China and the US clouds the outlook.

Japanese ministry of finance data, published yesterday, showed exports grew 8% year-on-year in April, versus a 6.4% gain seen by economists in a Reuters poll, slowing from an 8.5% gain in March.

Compared with March, shipments fell 1.5% in April. Slowdown in export growth could hold back the economy’s recovery from last year’s recession, after last week’s data that showed Japan’s economy posted two straight quarters of moderate expansion.