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What Japan exports. Japan's international economic relations

Japan ranks second in the world (after the US) in terms of economic development, with a GDP of about $4.5 trillion, and third in the world after the US and China in purchasing power parity. In terms of GDP growth during one working hour, this country ranked 18th in the world according to 2006 data.

High technologies (electronics and robotics) are developed. Transport engineering is also developed, including automotive and shipbuilding, machine tool building. The fishing fleet is 15% of the world. Agriculture is subsidized by the state, but 55% of food (calorie equivalent) is imported. There is a network of high speed railways Shinkansen and expressways. Export structure: transport vehicles, cars, motorcycles, electronics, electrical engineering, chemicals.

Import structure: machinery and equipment, fuel, food, chemicals, raw materials.

Main sectors National economy:

Services 72%
Industry 26.5%
Agriculture 1.4%

banking, insurance, real estate, retail, transportation and telecommunications are the main branches of the Japanese economy. Japan has great manufacturing potential and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced manufacturers of automobiles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and non-ferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles and food. Construction has long been one of Japan's largest industries, thanks to multi-billion dollar government contracts in the private sector.

Japan has high economic freedom, close cooperation between the government and manufacturers for economic growth, an emphasis on science and technology, and a strong work ethic. All this contributes to the development of the Japanese economy. The Japanese economy is characterized by the grouping of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and banks into tight groups called "keiretsu" and relatively weak international competition in domestic markets. There are also many social rather than industrial arrangements, such as the guarantee of lifetime employment in large corporations. Not so long ago, Japanese politicians approved reforms that allowed companies to deviate from some norms in an attempt to increase profits.

Japan is a country dominated by private enterprise and low taxes. The total amount of taxes is lower than in other large Western countries, in 2007 it amounted to 26.4% of GDP. Only some Japanese employers pay income taxes, VAT is very low at 5%, while corporate taxes are high.

Japanese statistics
(as of 2012)

The largest Japanese companies include Toyota Motor (“Toyota Motor”), NTT DoCoMo (“Entity DoCoMo”), Canon (“Canon”), Honda (“Honda”), Takeda Pharmaceutical (“Takeda Pharmaceutical”), Sony (“ Sony), Nippon Steel, Tepco, Mitsubishi Estate, and Seven & I Holding. It is home to the world's largest bank by assets, Japan Post Bank (US$3.2 trillion), as well as other banks, such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) (1 $2 trillion), Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho Financial Group) ($1.4 trillion) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group) ($1.3 trillion). As of December 2006, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of over 549.7 trillion yen, is the second largest in the world.

The overall growth of the real economy from the 1960s to the 1980s has been called the "Japanese economic miracle": averaging 10% per year in the 1960s, 5% in the 1970s, and 4% in the 1980s. Growth slowed down significantly in the 1990s, mainly due to the effects of overinvestment in the late 1980s and domestic policy aimed at crowding out excess speculative capital from stock market and the real estate market. Government attempts to revive economic growth met with limited success, and in 2000 and 2001. were further hampered by the global economic slowdown. However, after 2005 the economy showed strong signs of recovery. GDP growth for this year was 2.8%, and for the fourth quarter at an annualized rate of 5.5%, which exceeded the growth rates of the United States and European Union countries over the same period.

Since only 15% of Japanese land is suitable for agricultural cultivation, a system of terraced farming is applied in small areas. The result is one of the highest yields per unit area in the world, with large agricultural subsidies and protective duties. Japan imports about 50% of its grains and fodder crops other than rice, as well as most of the meat it consumes. In fisheries, Japan ranks second in the world after China in terms of tonnage of fish caught. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets, accounting for about 15% of the world's fish catch. Japan imports almost all of its oil and food from other countries.

Japan's transport infrastructure is extremely well developed. In 2004, it consisted of 1,177,278 kilometers of paved roads, 173 airports and 23,577 kilometers of railways. Private toll road builders have many competitors, while railroad companies are vying for popularity in regional and local markets. 7 stand out among them. large enterprises: JR ("Japan Railway Group"), Kintetsu Corporation ("Kintetsu Corporation"), Seibu Railway ("Seibu Railway") and Keio Corporation ("Keio Corporation"). Among the largest aviation companies are All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL), while Yokohama and Nagoya are considered the country's largest ports. Energy in the country is produced from oil, natural gas and coal. Nuclear power accounts for one third of all electricity generation; the Japanese plan to double these figures in the coming decades.

The Role of Japan in the World Economy

Japan's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. The country imports 100% of the cotton it needs, wool, bauxite, 99.9% copper ore, 99.8% oil, 99.7% iron ore, 81.8% coal. Japan ranks third after the US and Germany in international trade. It accounts for 6.3% of imports and 8.9% of world exports (1999). The leading place in its exports is occupied by machinery and equipment (74.7%), metal products (7.8%), and in imports - fuel (20.4%), food (14.7%), raw materials (8.5%). ). The country is 70% self-sufficient in food. The main suppliers of food products to Japan are the USA, Australia and Canada. Japan ranks first in the world in terms of seafood production (about 12 million tons).

Japan also ranks first in the world in terms of gold and foreign exchange reserves, accounting for 40% of world banking assets. Six Japanese banks are among the top ten largest banks in the world. The volume of its direct foreign investments exceeds 311 billion dollars (1999), which is 11.7% of world investments.

The main export partners of Japan are the USA - 22.8%, the EU - 14.5%, China - 14.3%, South Korea- 7.8%, Taiwan - 6.8% and Hong Kong - 5.6% (data for 2006). The main export commodities are transport equipment, automobiles, electronics, electrical equipment and chemicals. Because the Natural resources countries are limited, Japan is very dependent on foreign raw materials and imports a variety of goods from abroad. Japan's main import partners are China - 20.5%, USA - 12%, EU - 10.3% Saudi Arabia- 6.4%, UAE - 5.5%, Australia - 4.8%, South Korea - 4.7%, and Indonesia - 4.2% (2006 data). The main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs (especially beef), chemicals, textiles and industrial raw materials. In general, Japan's main trading partners are China and the United States.

In 2008-2009, the trade surplus increased 6 times: in September 2008 it was 90 billion yen ($1 billion) in September 2009 - 529.6 billion yen ($5.7 billion). Compared to September 2008, in 2009 the surplus in trade with Russia turned into a deficit and amounted to 52.65 billion yen ($580 million).

In general, Japan has almost no raw materials except water, and more than three-quarters of the land is uninhabitable and uninhabitable. Agriculture. Therefore, the Japanese value what they have very much.

Significant changes have taken place in the structure of Japan's imports. The most significant of these are a decrease in the share of raw materials and an increase in the share of finished products. Japan imports 99.7% of oil, 100% of aluminium, iron ore and nickel, over 95% of copper and over 92% of gas. Therefore, the Japanese are constantly oppressed by the fear of losing supplies, and they try to maintain at least a hundred days of oil in oil storage tanks and laid up supertankers, just in case.

Japan's industry and energy are largely supplied by imported mineral raw materials and fuel. Practical value have only reserves of coal, copper and lead ores, as well as some types of non-metallic minerals. Recently, thanks to the improvement of technologies for the extraction, enrichment and processing of minerals, it has become economically viable to develop small deposits, in particular, non-ferrous and rare metals, as well as to use the resources of the World Ocean, for example, the extraction of manganese compounds from the ocean floor, the extraction of uranium from sea water.

In both exports and imports of Japan, the United States ranks first. However, there is a major imbalance in Japanese-American trade in favor of Japan. There is a real "trade war" between Japan for markets. For example, huge disproportions have formed in the trade in telecommunications equipment. The volume of sales of Japanese equipment in the United States is eleven times the volume of sales of American equipment to Japan. Americans themselves buy Japanese appliances instead of American ones. This can only be explained by the fact that you cannot sell what people do not want to buy, this is due to Japanese quality. The same picture is observed in mechanical engineering and in many other branches of Japanese industry. Japanese goods have relatively low price at good quality. The general philosophy common to all Japanese industry is that everyone is their own controller and that the products produced must be made without defects at every stage of the operation. In America, a certain percentage of marriage is allowed. In Japan, elementary economy does not allow this, the Japanese try to avoid even isolated cases of marriage.

One of critical factors Japan's economic development was its broad participation in the international trade in technology. Japan's achievement of a high scientific and technical level in the leading industries, the deployment of its own R&D and the tightening of the conditions for acquiring licenses in the world market in recent years have led to a relative decrease in the role of technology imports for the Japanese economy. In the sectoral structure of Japanese technology exports, licenses in the field of electrical and transport engineering, chemistry, and construction occupied the largest share. The export of Japanese technology to the United States is gaining momentum and European countries. The expansion of technology exports in Japan is associated with the solution of acute foreign economic and foreign policy problems facing the country. This is pushing the business and scientific circles of Japan to develop new forms of scientific and technical exchange, including inter-firm cooperation, coordination of research programs, etc.

Japan's economy is by far the most developed economy in the world. By volume industrial production and in terms of GDP, this state ranks third among the countries of the world, second only to the United States and China. Japan has a very developed high technology (robotics and electronics), automobile and shipbuilding.

A bit of history: the stages of development of the Japanese economy

After World War II, the state government carried out structural transformations in organizations in various sectors of the economy. Experts note that it was the cooperation of the government with industrialists, the use of high technologies, work ethic, low defense spending that significantly helped Japan become an industrialized country.

The main stages of the development of the Japanese economy:

The first period - 1940-1960. - characterized by a revision of the state policy in relation to science and technology, as well as in the organization of the training of highly qualified workers.

Second period 1970-1980 - a time of extremely high economic growth. Significant changes in the structure of the national income are noted during this period. Mining and manufacturing, as well as construction, account for a significant percentage of national income. At the same time, the share of national income from agriculture and fisheries decreased markedly from 23% to 2%.

Third period 1990 - 2000 - the time of Japan's transformation into the world's leading country in terms of economic indicators.

Features of the development of Japanese industry

Particular attention is paid to the development of science and education. State R&D program (development national system research and development activities) contributes to the development of its own technical achievements and the complete rejection of imports. Special scientific centers were created on the territory of the country, which began to develop in the field of solid state physics, space robots, nuclear energy, the latest structural materials, plasma physics and other issues.

There are three particularly large industrial areas in Japan:

Chuke or Nagoya Industrial Region;
Kei-Hin or Tokyo-Yokagama Industrial Region;
Han-Sin or Osaka-Kob industrial region.

In addition, in Japan, industry is developing well in areas such as:

Northern Kyushu;
Kanto;
Tokai or East Sea Industrial Region;
Kashima;
Tokyo-Tiba industrial region.

Japan's main industries

Automotive

One of the main export items of the country is automotive products. There are three large areas in Japan that are engaged in the production of cars. They are located in Aichi, Shizuoka and Kanagawa prefectures. The leading automobile companies in the world are considered to be the following Mazda (factory in Hiroshima), Toyota and Nissan (factory in Yokohama), Honda (factory in the capital Tokyo), Mitsubishi and Suzuki (factory in Hamamatsu).

The industry has grown rapidly since the 1970s. Japan exported large volumes of automotive products to the United States. But after the conflict in 1974 between both countries, Japan imposed restrictions on the export of cars from the country. Therefore, the entrepreneurs of this state began to transfer their production to the United States. In 1989, experts note the greatest peak in the production of automotive products. This year, about 13 million cars were produced. Of this amount, 6 million Japan exported abroad.

Shipbuilding

There are three major shipbuilding areas in Japan:

Pacific coast;
Northern shores of Kyushu;
Coast of the Inland Sea of Japan.

The world's leading shipbuilding companies are Universal (Kawasaki), Kawasaki (Kobe), Mitsubishi (Nagasaki), Sasebo (Sasebo).

Thanks to the improvement of technology, the above state after the Second World War was the absolute leader in this industry. At the beginning of 1970, the country produced ships with a carrying capacity of more than 16 thousand tons.

But already in next years. Japan began to compete with China. This fight in the market, shipbuilding is carried out between these countries to this day.

electrical engineering

The world's leading companies that carry out the production of any kind of electrical equipment are the following:

Kenwood Corporation;
Kenon;
Konika;
Sony;
Toshiba;
Supra;
Nikon;
Panasonic;
Olympus;
Roland;
Pioneer;
Sharp;
Sega.

Japanese agricultural development

13% of the territory of the above state is occupied by land. Rice fields make up more than half of them. Since the lands are predominantly small, they are often cultivated without the use of specialized large equipment. Sometimes land is located near terraces and on the slopes of mountains, since there is not enough flat land in Japan.

Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a tendency in the state to reduce flood fields. This is due to two reasons:

rapid urbanization of the country;
the transition of the Japanese to the Western way of life (increase in the consumption of wheat, milk and meat, and decrease in rice).

The entire population of the state that is engaged in agriculture, according to the law, is called farmers. The latter are divided into those who grow products for their own needs, and those who grow products for sale. Accordingly, there are simple farmers and merchant farmers. The latter must have arable land of at least 30 acres.

Farmers-traders are also divided into three main groups:

professionals (i.e. those who are engaged in agricultural work from 60 days a year, their age must be at least 65 years old)4
semi-professionals (same requirements);
amateurs (persons over 65 years old).

The main branches of agriculture in Japan

Rice growing

About half of the entire arable land of the state is allocated for the above culture. Japanese rice cultivation reached its apogee after 1960. The Japanese economic miracle contributed to the fact that the income of the population increased significantly. This has led to an increase in demand for rice.

Since 1970, farmers have begun to reduce the area under crops due to excessive rice surpluses. A crop rotation system was introduced in flood fields. But already in 1997, an unexpected shortage of rice arose in Japan due to reductions in land.

Experts point out that in early XIX century, about 23% of the state's gross agricultural output came from rice cultivation.

Fishing

This branch of agriculture is traditional for Japan. Experts have calculated that on average one Japanese consumes about 168 kg of fish during the year.

The northern and southern parts of the Western Pacific are the main area where fishing thrives. The basis of the catch is the following fish: tuna (8%), mackerel (14%), saury (5%), salmon (5%), horse mackerel (4%) families.

It should be noted that Japan is the largest importer of fish and seafood in the world (occupies about 20% of all world imports). The fact is that Japanese fishing companies have the right to engage in fishing exclusively in the territorial waters of the country (within a radius of 370 km in the Pacific Ocean).

Resources and Energy of Japan

The main energy resource of the above state is oil. The share of "black gold" in the country's energy balance is about 50%.

The main oil products that are produced at Japanese refineries:

petrol;
diesel fuel;
kerosene;
naphtha;
fuel oil

But still, the country has to import 97% of this resource from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran, and Qatar. However, the Japanese government is trying to use alternative energy sources such as bioethanol.

It should be noted that the state fully provides for its needs in minerals and building materials. There are also minor deposits of gold in Japan. It belongs to the highest quality in the world and is mined in Kagoshima Prefecture near the city of Isa (Hishikari Mine).

A feature of the Japanese economy is that the country has practically no energy resources. In 1979, after the oil crises, the Japanese government set out to develop its own nuclear power industry. Part of the enterprises was transferred to natural gas.

The latter is supplied to the territory of the above state in liquefied form from countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Experts note that Japan is the sixth country in the world in terms of the total use of this natural resource. 96% of his country must be imported from outside.

Also, the state is poor in metals. 100% of all copper, aluminum, iron ore is imported from abroad. The largest suppliers of iron ore to Japan in 2004 were India (8%), Australia (62%) and Brazil (21%), aluminum - Indonesia (37%) and Australia (45%), copper - Chile (21%) , Australia (10%), Indonesia (21%).

Features of Japanese trade

The main distinguishing characteristic of the trade relations of the above country is that the country fully purchases raw materials and already exports manufactured goods. This trade belongs to the type of value added trade.

Before World War II, the state imported raw materials for its textile industry and exported textile products. After World War II, Japan completely reoriented its economy. From abroad, it mainly imports fuel, and exports - engineering products, high-precision equipment, cars, electronics.

Experts note that, since 1980, the state has had an exceptionally positive trade balance: imports are significantly inferior to the country's exports.

Japan's main imports:

oil;
liquefied gas;
simple microcircuits;
textile goods;
Fish and seafood;
computers.

Japan's main exports:

complex microcircuits;
cars;
products of the chemical industry;
steel;
goods of the engineering industry.

The main trading partners of the above state are the USA, China, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Korea, Australia.

Experts note that according to the data of 2010, the country's external turnover amounted to about 1.401 trillion US dollars.

Basically, imports and exports of goods are carried out through the ports of Japan. The largest trading ports of this state are:

Kansai airport;
Port of Kobe;
Narita airport;
Nagoya port;
Port of Yokohama;
Tokyo port.

Japanese economic model: description

To understand the basics of the economic development model of the above country, you should pay attention to the following important factors:

the role of the state in economic relations;
organization of private enterprise;
labor Relations.

Features of the structure of private entrepreneurship

The social structure of Japan is characterized by the dualism of modern industry. Small and medium-sized enterprises occupy the main place in the manufacturing industry. At the same time, some small firms do not observe a pronounced downward trend. It was against the backdrop of a mass of small enterprises that significant concentrations of capital in heavy industries developed rapidly. This just led to the formation of giant associations.

Features of the economic system of Japan:

vertical integration of firms and their grouping (large companies are combined with small and medium-sized firms);
the presence of a three-layer structure - the market - a group of enterprises (keiretsu) - the enterprise itself (legislation forbade the absorption of small enterprises. Basically, the latter are subordinate to large companies. This limits the process of centralization of capital and provides for the unanimous consent of the directors of subordinate enterprises).

The largest keiretsu (financial groups) in Japan are the following:

Mitsubishi;
Mitsui;
Sumitomo;
Sanwa;
Danity Kange.

They are mainly managed by universal trading and industrial companies, large banking institutions.

Groupings financial capital have the right to mutual ownership of the securities of the participating companies (but only a small package). For example, life insurance companies can own no more than 10% valuable papers other firms, and financial institutions - no more than 5%. Companies cannot own their own shares. The result of this is the transfer of control over companies from individuals to legal entities.

Labor Relations

To achieve high economic growth rates, it is important to create a unique personnel management system. The Japanese did it very well!

State management rising sun is based on the identification of the worker with the whole corporation. In Japan, it is not customary to change jobs often. Japanese workers are extremely loyal to their superiors and the organization they work for.

In the Land of the Rising Sun, the system of the so-called "lifelong employment of an employee" is welcomed. The latter remains loyal to only one organization throughout his working life. Under the operation of such a system, over time, for an employee, the work team becomes a second family, and work becomes a home. The employee ceases to distinguish between his own goals and the goals of the corporation itself.

It should be noted that Japan is characterized by a rather long working day - about 58 hours a week. Pay system:

basic;
overtime;
premium.

The female labor force occupies a special position in labor relations. Basically, the representatives of the weaker sex are used as hourly and day laborers. The salary of a woman is several times lower than that of a man. Interestingly, women day laborers appear in government statistics as ordinary housewives. Therefore, they therefore cannot lose their jobs - that is, they are not included in the number of unemployed. Because of this, the state has such a low unemployment rate.

The role of the state

In the decision common problems in the land of the rising sun, the unity of the state apparatus and large companies is noted. The planning system is very actively used in the country:

nationwide;
target;
regionally;
intracompany;
industry.

National plans are mainly aimed at regulating the work of private firms and companies. Their main tasks are mainly embodied in the content of intra-company plans, which are of a directive nature.

There are five main groups of nationwide plans:

economic and social development plan;
industry plans;
land development and use plan;
regional planning;
targeted nationwide programs.

The role of senior officials is extremely high. Their instructions are obligatory for implementation by firms.

Agriculture is also developing under the conditions of state regulation and fairly broad support. Rent relations and hired labor are not widespread here. Only 7% of farms have more than 2 hectares of land. About 70% of farms successfully operate outside the industry. They are in the service sector and work in industry. The state allowed them to work on the farm only on weekends.

It should be noted that the country is a monopoly buyer of all agricultural products. The owners of the latter sell it at prices higher than world prices.

The Japanese economic model is called very specific. After all, it perfectly combines not only economic and political methods, but also psychological methods. The above model, some experts call the philosophy of economics. The tremendous economic achievements of the Land of the Rising Sun speak of the viability and absolute competitiveness of this method of functioning of the economy.

Japan's Economy Today

At the end of the 20th century, foreign exchange reserves grew rapidly in the state. The Japanese government introduced a special system of measures to liberalize the export of the country's capital abroad. Today it is the most powerful international creditor and banking center. Her share in international loans increased significantly (from 5% in 1980 to 25% in 1990). main form foreign economic activity is just the export of capital.

Experts note that most of the Japanese capital successfully work in the United States, Western Europe, Asia, Latin America.

In the second half of 2008, the economy of the Land of the Rising Sun entered a recession. Sales of cars, for example, fell by more than 27% in November this year.

The country has the lowest unemployment rate in the world. According to 2011 data, its figure was about 4%.

There was no inflation in 2010. According to the data for 2011, the inflation rate increased to 2%.

Since 2014, experts say, the Japanese economy has successfully emerged from recession. GDP growth, according to government data, is 2.2% year-on-year.

To summarize a little, we can say that the Japanese economy is mainly focused on the export of goods. Recently, the Land of the Rising Sun has been the main supplier of high-precision equipment, electronics and cars to the world market. The products of the above sectors of the economy differ extremely high quality, very fast change of models and constant improvement. This makes it quite popular and in demand among consumers.

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The commodity structure of Japan's foreign trade is closely related to the structure of the national economy and is formed under the influence of a number of factors, such as: the availability of natural and labor resources, historically established economic ties, etc. It reflects the level of development of the national economy and the nature of its participation in the system of international division of labor.

Table 10. Commodity composition of Japanese imports in 2002 and 2010

Sections of the SMTK
Cost (mln USD)	% to total	Cost (mln USD)	% to total
Total, incl.	379 662,9		762 533,9		109,11
Foodstuffs and live animals	40 976	10,79	53 712,4	7,04	103,44
Drinks and tobacco	4895,9	1,29		0,82	103,04
	25 809,6	6,80	54 841	7,19	109,88
	77 488	20,41	267 784,3	35,12	116,77
Chemical products	25 747,7	6,78	54 543,3	7,15	109,84
	35 398,8	9,32	67 685,1	8,88	108,44
	105 924,3	27,90	158 860,3	20,83	105,20
	56 387,7	14,85	83 952,7	11,01	105,10
	6440,7	1,70		1,73	109,38

From the table we can see that the main Japanese imports in 2002 were mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials, as well as machinery, equipment and vehicles, with the latter occupying a leading position - the share in the country's imports was 27.90%. In 2010, mineral raw materials take the first place, their share grows by more than one and a half times, and the average annual growth rate is 116.77%, which allows us to speak of this import item as the most dynamically developing one. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that Japan has meager natural resources fuel and raw materials, so it is forced to import them from abroad, besides, the development of engineering and high-tech industries leads to an increase in the consumption of mineral fuels, raw materials and chemical products (these imports also have good indicators of development dynamics).

The structure of Japan's imports in 2010 is shown more clearly in the figure.

(1 - Food products and animals; 2 - Beverages and tobacco; 3 - Non-food raw materials (except fuel); 4 - Mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials; 5 - Chemical products; 6 - Worked products classified by materials; 7 - Machinery, equipment and vehicles; 8 - Miscellaneous processed (finished) products; 9 - Goods and transactions not included in the relevant sections of the SITC)

Now consider the commodity structure of Japan's exports for 2002 and 2010.

Table 10. Commodity structure of Japanese exports in 2002 and 2010

Sections of the SMTK			Average annual growth rate (%)
Cost (mln USD)	% to total	Cost (mln USD)	% to total
Total, incl.	479 247,6		781 412,2		106,30
Non-food raw materials (except fuel)	3269,6	0,68	10 227,1	1,31	115,32
Mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials	-	-	18 775,8	2,40	-
Chemical products	33 906	7,07	69136,6	8,85	109,31
Worked products classified by materials	47 916,6	10,00	97 629,7	12,49	109,30
Machinery, equipment and vehicles	32 8476,2	68,54	48 4399,1	61,99	104,98
Miscellaneous processed (finished) products	43 988,4	9,18	55 186,9	7,06	102,88
Goods and transactions not included in the relevant sections of the SITC	17 691,1	3,69	42 079,9	5,39	111,44

Japan's main exports are machinery, equipment and vehicles. However, despite the fact that its share in 2010 is more than sixty percent of the country's total exports, it can be seen that this figure has decreased compared to 2002. Moreover, the average annual growth rate of this export item is low (104.98%) and is inferior to most Japanese export items. This is primarily due to the global economic crisis, which marked a drop in demand for durable goods, in particular for cars. During periods of economic recovery, the population begins to actively buy such products. At the same time, it is on it that people save money when the situation on the market worsens, which is what we are seeing at this stage.

Judging by the indicators of the average annual growth rate, the most dynamically developing export items are non-food raw materials (except fuel) and goods.

More clearly, the commodity structure of Japan's exports is shown in the figure.

(1 - Non-food raw materials (except fuel); 2 - Mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials; 3 - Chemical products; 4 - Worked products classified by materials; 5 - Machinery, equipment and vehicles; 6 - Miscellaneous processed (finished ) products; 7 - Goods and transactions not included in the relevant sections of the SITC)

Conclusion

Externally economic ties play a central role in the Japanese economy. In the course of analyzing the dynamics of the development of the country's foreign trade, we found that, in general, the indicators of foreign trade activity are increasing, but this growth is unstable. Throughout the period from 2002 to 2010, the country's exports exceeded its imports (as evidenced by the coverage ratio), but the growth rate of imports significantly exceeded the growth rate of exports, which could lead to a negative trade balance.

After considering the geographical distribution of the country's foreign trade, we found that Japan's largest trading partners are the United States, the Republic of Korea, Germany and China. At the same time, it should be noted that the development of trade relations with China is the most active, which we can judge by comparing China's share in Japan's exports and imports in 2002 and 2010.

An analysis of the commodity structure of Japan's foreign trade made it possible to determine the most significant export and import items in the country's economy. In the structure of imports, the leading place is occupied by mineral fuels and machinery, equipment and vehicles, although the share of the latter tends to decrease. In the structure of exports, the main items are machinery, equipment and vehicles. However, judging by the average annual growth rate for the period under review, the export of non-food raw materials (except fuel) is developing most dynamically.

Japan is a country with a highly developed economy and strong foreign economic relations. However, despite this, the crisis had a severe impact on the country's economy. But still, the huge economic potential allows Japan, even in a period of decline, to maintain a leading position on the world stage.

Similar information.

Throughout Japan, there are practically no natural resources, so the country is forced to import raw materials, energy resources, as well as numerous goods from foreign countries. The Japanese import structure is represented by machinery and equipment, various chemical products, products and raw materials.

In the country, only about 15% of the land is used for agricultural work, which explains the fact that Japan imports half of the grain and fodder crops, excluding rice. The country is one of the world's leading wheat importers. And in 2014 it is going to exceed these purchases by another 4 million tons.

A significant part of the meat consumed by the Japanese is also imported, mainly beef.

Imported raw materials are represented by natural fuel. Japan's oil is supplied mainly by the United United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia.

Foreign trade deficit

Despite large volumes of exports, Japan has had a foreign trade deficit for the third year in a row. This is because the country has significantly increased energy imports. This is due to the closure of nuclear power units after the explosion at Fukushima in 2011, as well as natural disasters - a large-scale earthquake and tsunami.

Previously, nuclear power plants accounted for 30% of electricity generation. The high dependence on oil and gas supplies led to the fact that their imports increased by 18% - to the amount of 133 billion dollars. Purchases of liquefied natural gas accounted for a third of its world production. Gas is used for thermal power plants, as well as fuel for cars. Today, the country's imports exceed exports.

In order to reduce fuel purchases, Japan is going to resume the work of 10 power units of nuclear power plants.

In addition to energy, Japan in 2013 increased imports by 20%, as well as purchases of wood. The country has deposits of minerals, but is poor in metals. 100% of copper, aluminum and iron ore are imported from abroad.

In the first place in Japan's imports are the states of Southeast Asia, the countries of the European Union, the share of imports of goods from Australia and Russia is increasing. But the United States has been Japan's main trading partner for many years - about 30% of Japanese exports are sold on the American market and 20% of imports are provided.

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