Japan's annual export growth slowed for a sixth consecutive month. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

TOKYO - JAPAN'S export growth slowed for the sixth consecutive month in August, as a strong yen and cooling global demand rattled an already fragile recovery.
The value of exports climbed 15.8 per cent from a year earlier to 5.22 trillion yen (S$81.8 billion), according to the Ministry of Finance.
It was the slowest month of export growth this year. Exports expanded more than 23 per cent in July and 28 per cent in June.
The deceleration poses a major risk for Japan, which has depended on the rest of the world to make up for lackluster demand at home.
The country has turned to high-growth countries in Asia, particularly China, to drive the economy.
But that expansion is under threat as countries unwind stimulus measures that had underpinned global demand. Japanese exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. also face the onslaught of a strong yen, which hit fresh 15-year highs against the US dollar this month, and led the government to intervene in currency markets for the first time in six years. -- AP