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The Merchandise Trade Balance is a measure of "visible" trade, which is trade in goods like cars and electronics. Specifically it is the difference between Japan 's imports of goods and exports of goods, excluding services. A positive value indicates a trade surplus (exports exceed imports) while a negative value indicates a trade deficit (imports exceed exports). Movements in the Merchandise Trade Balance reflect altered demand for Japanese Yen, which can move the value of the currency. Positive growth in the trade balance may lead to a future appreciation of the Yen due to steady demand in exchange for Japanese exports.
The Merchandise Trade report itself gives insight into changing trends regarding Japanese trade. Such developments are especially important for Japan , which is an export-oriented economy that has historically experienced large trade surpluses, any affect on this could have dramatic affect on the domestic economy. The headline figure is expressed as a percentage change from the last equivalent period, and a positive percentage change can indicate that export growth has exceeded import growth.

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A subset of the balance of payments current account that records the difference between the payments received for exports of goods to other nations and the payments made for the imports of goods from other nations. The goods included are physical or tangible goods, but not intangible services. The balance on merchandise trade is thus appropriately divided into merchandise exported and merchandise imported. Two other subsets of the current account include the balance on services and unilateral transfers. The commonly termed balance of trade is the sum of the balance on merchandise trade and the balance on services.

The balance on merchandise trade is one part of the current account of the balance of payments. It tracks payments for the exchange of tangible merchandise or goods, including those exported from the domestic economy to the foreign sector and those imported from the foreign sector to the domestic economy.

The Merchandise Trade Balance is a measure of "visible" trade, which is trade in goods like cars and electronics. Specifically it is the difference between country's imports of goods and exports of goods, excluding services. A positive value indicates a trade surplus (exports exceed imports) while a negative value indicates a trade deficit (imports exceed exports).