Asian crisis threatens Japanese carmakers' high

Asian crisis threatens Japanese carmakers' high

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's vehicle exports in April notched a 23rd straight month of year-on-year gains, although shrunken demand in Asia threatens to end the trend, manufacturers said on Friday.

Exports rose 4.9 percent in April from a year earlier to 380,113 units, as strong demand in the United States and Europe offset a sharp fall in Asia, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said.

The gain was smaller than the two-digit jumps seen for 12 straight months, excluding January 1998 when year-on-year exports gained 7.0 percent.

"The small gain in April was mainly due to a steep decline in exports to Southeast Asia," a JAMA official said.

Exports to Asia including China fell 60.3 percent in April from a year earlier to 22,467 units as a result of deteriorated economies in East and Southeast Asia.

Overall April exports by Toyota Motor rose 11.3 percent to 131,861 units from a year earlier, those of Honda Motor rose 7.9 percent to 50,149, and Mazda Motor rose 10.2 percent to 47,830.

Exports by Nissan Motor fell 14.3 percent to 50,151 units and those of Mitsubishi Motors slid 6.4 percent to 38,370.

"A fall in our exports in April was based on poor exports to Asia," a Nissan spokesman said.

Mitsubishi also blamed poor exports on lower shipments to Southeast Asia and China and expects exports to continue to decline in May, a spokeswoman said.

Spokesmen from other major automakers said they too were not optimistic about exports in and after May.

Japan's vehicle exports may post a year-on-year decline for the first time in two years in May or June because of persistent weak demand in Southeast Asia, industry sources said.