Japan's exports plunged a record 49.4 percent in February, the largest drop since at least 1980, as deepening recessions in the U.S. and Europe sapped demand for cars and electronics.
Shipments to the U.S., the No. 1 market, tumbled an unprecedented 58.4 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. Automobile exports tumbled 70.9 percent.
The collapse indicates gross domestic product may shrink this quarter at a similar pace to the annualized 12.1 percent contraction posted in the previous three months, the sharpest since 1974.