Japan exports up in February before quake

OSAKA: In a snapshot of Japan's economy before the  devastation and disruption brought by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, data  Thursday showed its exports rose for the 15th straight month in February.

But the data offered no indication of how the nation will fare as it comes to terms with the 9.0 magnitude quake, the devastating tsunami it triggered and  the resulting nuclear crisis after the Fukushima Daiichi plant was crippled.

Exports in February rose 9.0 percent from a year earlier to 5.589 trillion  yen, due in part to strength in shipments of autos and steel, the Ministry of Finance said Thursday. The result just missed the median forecast for a 9.7 percent rise in a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires, but improved upon January's timid 1.4  percent increase. The trade surplus rose 2.5 percent to 654.1 billion yen. The March 11 disasters have plunged Japan into what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called its worst crisis since World War II.

The government on Wednesday said the cost of rebuilding Japan after the disaster could hit 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), more than double the Kobe earthquake and nearly four times more than Hurricane Katrina.

The estimate does not account for wider issues such as how radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant crippled by the quake will affect food and water supply, amid a deepening food scare with global repercussions.

Even so, with the cost of the destruction set to push down growth in the coming fiscal year, the upper estimate would put the disaster's monetary impact at more than double the 9.6 trillion yen of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The disaster shattered transport systems in the northeast and has meant  production shutdowns at Japan's top companies such as Toyota due to damaged  facilities, rolling power outages and broken supply chains crucial to making cars, electronic gadgets and machinery.

Economists expect the economy to contract again in the January March  quarter, plunging Japan into a temporary recession following a decline in October-December. Growth in fiscal 2011 is expected to be near zero.