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The value of Japan's exports grew at fastest pace in three months in April partly due to a boost in shipments to the US but still ended up missing economist expectations.
Exports in April increased 7.8 percent year on year, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance, accelerating from a rise of 2.1 percent in March but still fell short of a median estimate of 8.1 percent from economists polled by Reuters.
The value of outbound shipments to Asia accelerated to a year-on-year growth of six percent as exports to Hong Kong exited contraction with a rise of 1.3 percent and growth in direct shipments to China edged up 0.1 percentage points to 10.9 percent.
Exports to the US accelerated from March's rise of just 0.2 percent to mark an increase of 4.3 percent in April.
Imports were up 5.9 percent from the previous year, rebounding from a 0.6 percent contraction in the previous month, the first decline since 2016, but also missing economist expectations of a 9.6 percent growth.
Those trade flows unraveled a ¥626 billion (about $5.6 billion) trade surplus that easily surpassed a forecast of ¥405.6 billion and marked only a moderate decline from March's surplus of ¥797 billion.
