WTO REPORTS FULL SCALE OF ASIAN IMPORT CUTS
Japan and the major Asian countries reduced imports of
merchandise goods by up to 35 percent in 1998, according to statistics released by the
World Trade Organization.
Japan’s merchandise imports dropped by 5.5 percent in volume last year
and the cost, insurance and freight value of the country’s imports fell by 17 percent.
Merchandise imports of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore
and Taiwan fell by an average of 16 percent in volume terms and 25 percent in C.I.F. value
in 1998.
The WTO reported a much smaller contraction of imports by mainland
China last year.
