Japan’s international trade slowdown worsened to a 6.0% year over year decline in June from 2.9% in the three months to May 31. While the faster decline was down to a worsening import performance, exports still led the drop in absolute terms with a 6.6% slide. The slowdown has been seen across most other Asian economies except for Vietnam and India. The technology sector is largely to blame with Japanese shipments of semiconductors down 7.9%, PC components off 9.0% and telecoms equipment down 8.3%.