Japan's exports fell for the first time in three months, indicating that the yen's appreciation and the financial turmoil in Europe are slowing the recovery from the disasters in March.
Shipments dropped 3.7 percent in October from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday, worse than all 29 estimates stated by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Exports to China, Japan's biggest market, slid 7.7 percent, the largest drop since May. Weakening overseas demand has led companies including Toshiba Corp. and Nippon Yusen K.K. to call on the government to follow up on last month's yen intervention with steps to prevent the currency from appreciating further.