Japan: Price Movements of Top Imports and Other
Highlights
2016
www.bls.gov/mxp
The price index for imports from Japan declined 2.9
percent between December 2014 and December
2015. Import prices from Japan for transportation
equipment remained unchanged during the last
quarter of 2015, while import nonelectrical machinery
products prices declined 0.9 percent for the same
period.
Top Five U.S. Import Trade Partners by Trade Dollar-Value, 2015

Billions of dollars
$600
$500
$481.9
$400

$295.2
$300
$294.7
$200
$131.1
$124.1

$100
$0
China
Canada
Mexico
Japan
Germany
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Statistics.
Japan was the fourth largest import
trade partner for the United States in
2015. Accounting for 5.8 percent of
U.S. total imports, Japan traded over
$131.1 billion of imports to the
United States.
The dollar value of imports from
Japan declined 2.2 percent between
2014 and 2015, following a 3.3percent decrease between 2013 and
2014.
Japan’s import dollar value dropped
10.5 percent between 2012 and
2015, the largest percentage drop
out of the top five import trade
partners.
U.S. Import Price Indexes: Japan

Import prices from Japan edged down
0.1 percent during the last quarter of
2015. Prices for U.S. imports excluding
fuels decreased 0.9 for the same period.

Between December 2014 and December
2015, prices for Japanese imports
declined 2.9 percent, the largest
calendar year drop since the index fell
3.4 percent in 2013.

Weak global demand contributed to
lower import prices from Japan.
Index value, December 2012 = 100
101
100
99
98
97
96
95
94
93
92
Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec
2014
2013
Imports from Japan
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, International Price Program.
2015
All imports excluding fuels
Import/Export Price Indexes (MXP): Japan Highlights
Top Six Imports from Japan by Trade Dollar-Value, 2015




Transportation equipment was the
largest import industry from Japan in
2015 with $56.6 billion, making up 43.2
percent of all imports from Japan.
www.bls.gov/mxp
Billions of dollars
$60
$56.6
$50
$40
The second largest import from Japan,
nonelectrical machinery manufacturing,
accounted for 16.5 percent of the total
Japanese imports with $21.6 billion.
$30
$21.6
$20
$15.8
$10.6
$10
Computer and electronic products came
in third with $15.8 billion, accounting for
12.1 percent of total imports from Japan.
$5.7
$4.5
$0
Transportation Nonelectrical
Equipment
Machinery
The top six import industries from Japan
made up 87.6 percent of the total value.
Computer and
Electronic
Products
Chemicals
Electrical
Fabricated
Equipment, Metal Products
Appliances and
Components
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Statistics.
U.S. Import Price Indexes: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing from Japan

Index value, December 2014=100
101
100
99
98

97
96
Dec 2014
Feb 2015
Apr 2015
Jun 2015
Aug 2015
Oct 2015
Import transportation equipment products from Japan
Overall transportation equipment products
Dec 2015

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics International Price Program.
Import prices from Japan for
transportation equipment remained
unchanged for the 3 months ended in
December 2015, while prices for
overall U.S. transportation equipment
imports fell 0.5 percent for the same
period.
The import price index for
transportation equipment from Japan
fell 1.4 percent for the year ended in
December 2015.
The strong dollar relative to the Yen
contributed to the drop in prices from
Japan.
U.S. Import Price Indexes: Nonelectrical Machinery Manufacturing from Japan



During the last quarter of 2015, prices
for import nonelectrical machinery
products from Japan fell 0.9 percent
while overall nonelectrical machinery
import prices fell 0.8 percent.
During 2015, prices for Japanese
imports of nonelectrical machinery
products decreased 3.6 percent.
Japan’s depreciated yen and deflation
concerns continued to drag prices
down in this and other industries.
Index value, December 2014=100
101
100
99
98
97
96
Dec 2014
Feb 2015
Apr 2015
Jun 2015
Aug 2015
Oct 2015
Import nonelectrical machinery products from Japan
Overall import nonelectrical machinery products
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics International Price Program.
Import/Export Price Indexes (MXP) • [email protected] • www.bls.gov/mxp • 202-691-7101
Dec 2015