Japan posts strong export numbers
Marketplace Morning Report
Marketplace
4.5 • 927 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From the BBC World Service: Japan’s export figures were the strongest in three years, climbing 16.8% year over year in January. The data sharply beat market expectations. Plus, the German drugs giant Bayer is offering to pay more than $10 billion to settle claims over the weedkiller Roundup. And, European commercial flights have resumed to Venezuela for the first time since the ousting of President Nicolás Maduro.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Some good news for Japan's sluggish economy as exports jump. |
| 0:06.0 | Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.0 | Good morning, I'm Nick Kareishi. |
| 0:12.9 | It's the start of the Lunar New Year this week, and one country in Asia seems to be doing very well |
| 0:18.2 | because of the strong demand ahead of the holidays. |
| 0:21.0 | The BBC's Sarenjana Tuari joins us. Hi, Surinjana. Hi there. |
| 0:25.1 | So Japan's exports have marked their biggest jump in more than three years. What is driving |
| 0:31.2 | this growth? This week is the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. And obviously, Japan and China are major trading partners, |
| 0:39.7 | even though they often have frosty relations diplomatically. But these numbers come from January |
| 0:46.4 | and it shows that Japan's exports were boosted by the strong demand all around Asia for its |
| 0:53.8 | products. |
| 0:54.8 | And this is really interesting because it actually follows separate data this week |
| 0:58.5 | that showed that the Japanese economy has only just limped back to growth in the fourth quarter of last year, |
| 1:05.3 | significantly missing market forecasts because of weaker exports and capital expenditure as well. Now, in these figures, |
| 1:13.7 | exports to China actually jumped 32%, which is why experts and economists are saying that this is |
| 1:19.4 | because of the demand ahead of the lunar New Year. But exports bound for the European Union were |
| 1:24.7 | also up by 30%. So a real front loading. |
| 1:29.2 | Not such good news. |
| 1:31.0 | We learn that Chinese visits to Japan plummeted by some 60% in January, |
| 1:37.6 | according to official figures from the Japanese Tourist Board. |
| 1:40.9 | That's right. |
| 1:41.7 | And that's why it's so interesting that the exports are actually up, because |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.