AKIPRESS.COM - Japanese exports jumped 9.6% on year in October, offering renewed hope that the yen’s continued slide will boost Japan’s sales of goods abroad and help power a flagging economy despite lackluster global growth, reports WSJ.

The finance ministry data is likely to be welcomed by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following his announcement earlier in the week of an early election after Japan’s slide into recession forced Mr. Abe to postpone a planned tax increase.

The higher than expected export growth helped trim Japan’s trade deficit to ¥710 billion ($6 billion). Economists had forecast a ¥1.022 trillion deficit according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the Nikkei. The deficit was a record 28th straight monthly shortfall.

After hitting a six-year low against the dollar in September, the yen has continued its downward march, increasing the cost of imports but generating hope that it might help energize Japan’s sluggish exports.

The October data offered a sign that a much-hoped-for spurt in exports may yet materialize. While the weaker yen inflates the value of existing export levels, the latest figures also show that export volume increased 4.7% from a year earlier.

The increase in imports was less pronounced, rising 2.7% as Japan entered a second quarter of negative growth in the July-September period, while weaker oil prices helped reduce the cost of importing fossil fuels to generate electricity amid a shutdown of nuclear power plants across Japan. Still, the import figure was the highest on record for an October.

The yen fell against the dollar to a seven-year low around ¥118 earlier Thursday. But data released earlier in the week showed Japan’s economy shrank 1.6% in the third quarter in a severe setback to Mr. Abe’s economic program known as Abenomics. The U.S. expanded 3.5% by contrast.

The global economic picture is far from rosy with growth in the eurozone just 0.6% for the latest trimester. China, Japan’s second biggest export market after the U.S., also saw its pace of growth decelerating to a five-year low.

One bright spot for export-oriented manufacturing powerhouses in Asia is strong global demand for hand-held devices, including Apple’s new iPhones. Japan is a major supplier to other Asian economies of components and production equipment for such devices.

Japan’s export volume recorded a small on-year increase of 0.3% in July-September, but sluggish global growth and a continued offshoring of production by Japanese manufacturers have so far limited growth, despite the yen’s sharp decline.