Islands row hits 30% of Japanese firms

A credit and market research firm's report has shown that about 30 percent of Japanese companies suffered adversely due to deteriorating ties between China and Japan.

In a survey conducted by Teikoku Databank Ltd from October 19 to 31, with more than 10,000 responses, the results indicated that about 33.6 percent of Japanese companies' sales revenue fell since bilateral ties were worsened by the Diaoyu Islands issue.

The wholesale sector was the most affected, with 37.6 percent of the firms hit, followed by manufacturing with about 31 percent, the report said.

Meanwhile, the majority of Japanese companies doing direct business with China will "maintain the current business scale" in the future.

According to the government's September economic data, Japan's exports to China fell by 14.1 percent from the same month of last year, for four consecutive months since June, with auto shipments down 44.5 percent.