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.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Power outages could hamper Japanese recovery: IMF Power outages could hamper Japanese recovery: IMF Earth Hour aims for hope in darkened world Saving Electricity In A Hurry-Tokyo Has Done It Before And Can Do It Again China warns against S.China Sea oil exploration Oil prices firm on Middle East unrest Upgrading The Vanadium Redox Battery Solar Greenhouses: China's Winning Solution To Global Energy Crisis GL Garrad Hassan Helping To Realize Largest US Wind Farm Development K-State Research Channels Powerful Kansas Wind To Keep Electricity Running GL Garrad Hassan Announces The WindHelm Portfolio Manager American Electric Technologies Announces Deployment With Emergya Wind Technologies Hawaiian Electric And SunPower Sign Solar Power Agreement DTE Energy Seeks Solar Panel Equipment OPEL Solar Enhances Solar Project For Aquarion Water Company Optimal Yields With Photovoltaic Systems Saudis focus on nuclear, solar energy Radioactive German election looms for Merkel Fukushima: France sets check of reactors by year end Oldest US nuclear reactor 'disaster waiting to happen' Maquipucuna Cloud Forest In Ecuador Yields New Species (Of Yeast) Can Biochar Help Suppress Greenhouse Gases Groups protest Kenya biofuel project CO2 Emissions From Biomass Combustion What Future for Chang'e-2 China setting up new rocket production base China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Chang'e-5 In 2017 Intervention Offers 'Best Chance' To Save Species Endangered By Climate Change Climate change: UN parties complete inventory of pledges Northern Peatlands A Misunderstood Player In Climate Change Ancient Hhyperthermals A Guide To Anticipated Climate Changes