Growth in exports slowed in May for the third straight month, signaling the pace of the economic recovery is likely to cool.
Shipments abroad advanced 32.1 percent from a year earlier, less than April's 40.4 percent, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. The median estimate in a survey of 19 economists was for 36.5 percent. From the previous month, exports fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent.
The report highlights Japan's vulnerability to any slowdown in global trade after exports drove the economy's 5 percent annualized expansion in the first quarter. Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Kiyohiko Nishimura said Wednesday that policymakers need to monitor whether Europe's sovereign debt crisis will start to have an impact here.