Weekly Exchange Rate
For customs declarations, exports are to be declared on an FOB (Free On Board) price basis1, and imports on a CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) price basis2, both converted into Japanese yen.
The foreign exchange rate to be used for such conversion is the rate published by the Director-General of Customs, which is calculated as the average of the actual market exchange rates for the week two weeks prior to the week that includes the date of declaration.e week that includes the date of declaration.
On the Association’s website, these weekly exchange rates are posted and updated every Tuesday afternoon (for the 30 major countries), except during the year-end/New Year period and on national holidays. Exchange rates for other countries are also, in principle, updated every Tuesday (excluding the year-end/New Year period and national holidays). However, when Monday or Tuesday falls on a national holiday, updates are generally made on Wednesday.
*1 FOB (Free On Board) price refers to the value of exported goods at the point of loading onto the vessel, excluding shipping and insurance costs.
*2 CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) price refers to the value of imported goods including the cost of goods, insurance, and freight up to the port of destination.
Dollar Denomination in Trade Statistics
Since April 1996, the Ministry of Finance has ceased publishing trade statistics in US dollars, and they have been released only in Japanese yen. Accordingly, the monthly dollar conversion rates are no longer announced. The following example shows the calculation method that was used up until March 1996.
As trade statistics are compiled every ten days (a “decade” of a month), the conversion rates are also calculated for each ten-day period. The calculation method is to take the weighted average of the weekly dollar conversion rates within the ten-day period, weighted by the number of days in each week that fall within the period.
Example:
The weekly exchange rate announced by the Director-General of Customs
| April 1 – 7 | 154.30 JPY/USD |
| April 8 – 14 | 157.22円 JPY/USD |
| April 15 – 21 | 158.74円 JPY/USD |
| April 22 – 28 | 157.79円 JPY/USD |
| April 29 – May 5 | 158.87円 JPY/USD |
n that case,
| First Ten-Day Rate | (154.30×7)÷10+(157.22×3)÷10=155.18 yen per US dollar |
| Middle Ten-Day Rate | (157.22×4)÷10+(158.74×6)÷10=158.13 yen per US dollar |
| Last Ten-Day Rate | (158.74×1)÷10+(157.79×7)÷10+(158.87×2)÷10=158.10 yen per US dollar |
It becomes:
Next, the total value of exports and imports (in Japanese yen, unit: thousands of yen)
| Exports | Imports | |
| First Ten-Day | 1,061,142,836 | 1,092,569,354 |
| Middle Ten-Day | 1,088,008,962 | 1,061,386,488 |
| Last Ten-Day | 1,299,293,165 | 732,627,507 |
| Monthly | 3,448,444,963 | 3,215,098,678 |
Assuming that is the case, the total value in US dollars for each ten-day period (unit: thousands of USD) is
| Exports | Imports | |
| （ａ）First Ten-Day | 1,061,142,836÷155.18＝6,838,142 | 1,092,569,354÷155.18＝7,040,658 |
| （ｂ）Middle Ten-Day | 1,088,008,962÷158.13＝6,880,742 | 1,061,386,488÷158.13＝6,712,113 |
| （ｃ）Last Ten-Day | 1,299,293,165÷158.10＝8,218,173 | 732,627,507÷158.10＝4,633,950 |
| Monthly | （ａ）＋（ｂ）＋（ｃ）＝21,937,057 | （ａ）＋（ｂ）＋（ｃ）＝18,386,721 |
It becomes:
Therefore, the conversion rate for the month is
| Exports | Imports | |
| conversion rate | 3,448,444,963÷21,937,057=157.20 yen per US dollar | 3,215,098,678÷18,386,721=174.86 yen per US dollar |
This is the result (all fractional values are rounded to the nearest whole number).