Japan’s trade activity ended 2018 on a sour note after a 3.8% year over year drop in exports in December pulled total trade down 1.0%. The latter was the first decline since Nov. 2016. Japan therefore joins China, India and South Korea in experiencing a downturn in exports. Shipments to the U.S. and the EU both improved, suggesting it was Asian supply chains that are causing the weakness. Electronics appears to be suffering in particular with an 8.2% drop in exports of semiconductors underscoring the weakness in the sector previously highlighted by TSMC.