Bank of Japan revises real exports and imports methodology and shifts releases to one business day after trade statistics

The Bank of Japan has changed how it compiles its real exports and real imports data from the April 2026 release onward, aiming to better reflect trade developments. For real exports, it will replace the current eight-group deflation method with a more detailed 31-item classification for data since 2000. Real imports will likewise move from eight commodity groups to a 28-item classification. The revision also refines the correspondence between goods and deflators used in the goods-level real export series. The changes respond to larger recent swings in deflators for certain items, including semiconductors and gold, which had created discrepancies and bias in the series. Data before 2000 will be revised retrospectively using the month-on-month rate of change from the previous eight-group method. The publication timetable will also change. The main series and the reference series for real exports by region and by goods will now both be released at 4:00 p.m. one business day after the Ministry of Finance publishes its provisional Trade Statistics, instead of on the same day and three business days later respectively. The first release under the new timetable is the April 2026 figures on May 22, 2026, and the previously published real trade balance series will be discontinued.