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Japan's Export Growth Unexpectedly Quickens to 8.7% Japan's export growth unexpectedly accelerated in February as demand from emerging markets helped automakers ride out the U.S. slump. Exports, which contributed more than half of the economy's expansion last quarter, climbed 8.7 percent from a year earlier after increasing 7.6 percent in January, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 7.5 percent gain. Consumers in China and Indonesia are helping Hino Motors Ltd. and Honda Motor Co. make up for waning demand in the U.S., Japan's largest market. Overseas sales are proving resilient even after a slump in the U.S. dragged the dollar down 12 percent against the yen this year. ``This is an impressively strong number and we may need to reassess the outlook for exports,'' said Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Tokyo. ``Exports are less sensitive to the U.S. slowdown than expected.'' Imports increased 10.1 percent, and the trade surplus widened 0.9 percent to 969.9 billion yen ($9.7 billion), the ministry said. The yen rose to 99.96 per dollar at 11:59 a.m. in Tokyo from 100.07 before the report was published.