Japan’s Exports Rise 16.7 Percent in September as Imports From the UAE Climb 36.9 Percent
Japan’s exports rose 16.7 percent in September from a year earlier to 10.97 trillion yen, equivalent to 69.4 billion dollars. The Ministry of Finance released the provisional figures at 23:50 GMT on 20 October. Imports grew faster. They rose 18.9 percent to 11.51 trillion yen. The trade deficit came to 536.6 billion yen, 93.2 percent wider than a year earlier. It was less than half of August’s 1.11 trillion yen, at 48.3 percent of it on our calculation.
Among Gulf suppliers, imports from the UAE climbed 36.9 percent to 527.9 billion yen, equivalent to 3.3 billion dollars.
Prices did most of the work
Export volumes rose 1.9 percent on the year, on the ministry’s trade indexes. Export unit values rose 14.5 percent. Price, not quantity, carried most of September’s rise, on our reading.
Imports followed the same pattern, more sharply. Volumes fell 1.6 percent while unit values rose 20.8 percent. Import prices are rising faster than export prices, so each unit of goods Japan sells pays for less of what it buys, on our reading. On our calculation, the export unit value index stands at 92.2 percent of the import index. Both are based at 2020.
Energy is a large part of that, on our reading. Mineral fuel imports rose 39.4 percent to 2.35 trillion yen. They contributed 6.9 points of the 18.9 percent rise in imports, on the ministry’s contribution figures. That is more than a third of the increase, on our calculation.
Crude oil imports rose 51.1 percent in value to 1.11 trillion yen. Volumes rose only 3.1 percent. That puts the average price paid per kilolitre up 46.6 percent, on our calculation. Liquefied natural gas cost 39.2 percent more in total, even though volumes fell 7.3 percent. Its implied unit price rose 50.2 percent, on our calculation.
Chips, cars and the US lift exports
Exports in the ministry’s semiconductors line rose 49.4 percent to 933.7 billion yen. Integrated circuits made up 78.7 percent of that line, on our calculation. The chip-making machinery line rose 43.9 percent to 553.3 billion yen. Together the two lines added 5.1 points to the 16.7 percent export gain, on our sum of the ministry’s contribution figures.
Cars added another 2.3 points. Car exports rose 16.5 percent to 1.54 trillion yen.
The United States was the largest single destination among the countries the ministry lists, on our count. Exports there rose 22.9 percent to 1.96 trillion yen, or 17.9 percent of the total on our calculation. That was 233.1 billion yen more than Japan sent to China, on our calculation. Car shipments to the US rose 30.5 percent.
Exports to China grew 8.6 percent, even though car shipments there fell 60.0 percent. Exports to Taiwan rose 37.8 percent and to South Korea 35.5 percent. Shipments to ASEAN rose 25.3 percent. Integrated circuits sent to the bloc rose 160.6 percent.
Japan’s Exports by Destination, September 2026
| Destination | Yen million | Change, % |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 1,963,025 | 22.9 |
| China | 1,729,957 | 8.6 |
| ASEAN | 1,720,759 | 25.3 |
| EU | 985,410 | 10.5 |
| Taiwan | 918,778 | 37.8 |
| South Korea | 781,389 | 35.5 |
| World | 10,972,254 | 16.7 |
Provisional figures, not seasonally adjusted; change on September 2025. ASEAN and the EU are country groups. Dollar equivalents in the text are our calculation at 158.17 yen per dollar, the reading in our Commodities Wrap at 20:22 GMT on 20 October.
The UAE leads Japan’s Gulf imports
On our calculation, September’s imports from the UAE were 65.2 percent higher than August’s 319.5 billion yen. The UAE supplied 64.8 percent of everything Japan bought from the Middle East in the month, on our calculation. On our calculation, its goods made up 4.6 percent of Japan’s total imports. Among the individual countries in the ministry’s table, only China, the US, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea shipped more to Japan, on our count.
On Japan’s figures, the UAE’s surplus in their trade grew 79.4 percent to 374.2 billion yen. Over April to September the UAE was the largest Gulf supplier in the ministry’s table at 2.12 trillion yen, on our count. That was 21.5 percent more than Saudi Arabia’s 1.75 trillion yen, on our calculation.
Imports from Oman grew faster still. They rose 81.4 percent to 40.1 billion yen in September. Over the half they rose 57.4 percent to 230.8 billion yen. Japan’s exports to Oman rose 8.5 percent, and to Kuwait 2.3 percent.
On our calculation, Middle East crude made up 62.0 percent of Japan’s crude import volumes in September. Its share of crude value was 61.2 percent, on our calculation. On our calculation, Japan paid less per kilolitre for it than for US crude, an average of 98,249 yen. US crude averaged 102,491 yen, 4.3 percent more on our calculation. Middle East crude import value rose 1.5 percent to 680.0 billion yen.
Crude from the US rose 819.7 percent in value to 382.2 billion yen. That was 34.4 percent of Japan’s crude import bill, on our calculation. Middle East crude volumes fell 30.0 percent to 6.92 million kilolitres.
UAE Leads Japan’s Gulf Imports, September 2026
| Supplier | Yen million | Change, % |
|---|---|---|
| UAE | 527,918 | 36.9 |
| Saudi Arabia | 182,390 | -30.8 |
| Oman | 40,090 | 81.4 |
| Kuwait | 34,179 | -59.0 |
| Qatar | 817 | -99.1 |
| Middle East | 815,161 | -7.0 |
Provisional figures; change on September 2025. Bahrain is not listed separately in the release. The Middle East total includes countries not shown in the table.
A half-year deficit of 2.82 trillion yen
Over the first half of Japan’s fiscal year, April to September, exports rose 18.4 percent to 63.46 trillion yen. Imports rose 20.4 percent to 66.28 trillion yen. The deficit came to 2.82 trillion yen, equivalent to 17.8 billion dollars. That is 1.6 times the 1.76 trillion yen deficit for the whole of fiscal 2025, on our calculation. Half-year exports already equal 56.0 percent of fiscal 2025’s 113.22 trillion yen, on our calculation.
Most of the gap opened in July to September, 81.4 percent of it on our calculation. That quarter’s 2.29 trillion yen deficit was 4.4 times the 525.0 billion yen of April to June, on our calculation. Imports rose 24.8 percent in the quarter against 19.7 percent for exports.
On our count, September was the seventh straight month of double-digit export growth, a run that began in March. It was also the smallest of those gains since April’s 14.8 percent, on our count. Imports have grown faster than exports for four months in a row, on our count. On our count, September’s deficit was the fifth in a row, after a surplus of 282.3 billion yen in April.
Japan’s Trade by Month, Fiscal Year 2026
| Month | Exports, % | Imports, % | Balance, yen million |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 14.8 | 9.9 | 282,325 |
| May | 16.8 | 12.5 | -395,110 |
| June | 19.3 | 25.4 | -412,257 |
| July | 23.2 | 27.9 | -644,920 |
| August | 19.3 | 28.0 | -1,111,913 |
| September | 16.7 | 18.9 | -536,558 |
Year-on-year change in value. August imports and balance, and all September figures, are provisional.
Why it matters: Japan is earning more from its exports, but mostly because prices are higher, on our reading. Its import bill is rising faster still. Energy supplied more than a third of September’s import growth, on our calculation. Six months of trade have already left a deficit 1.6 times last fiscal year’s, on our calculation. For the Gulf, Middle East crude made up most of Japan’s crude imports in September and cost less per kilolitre than US crude, on our calculation. The UAE supplied the largest share of what Japan bought from the region, on our count.
Outlook: The ministry’s detailed September export figures are due at 00:30 GMT on 29 October. October’s provisional trade data follows at 23:50 GMT on 17 November. That release will show whether imports from the UAE keep rising, and whether import prices keep outrunning export prices.
Sources: Ministry of Finance of Japan, The Edge.
