Associated Press

Tokyo, June 8:

A third of Japanese companies with operations in China expect business there to sag in the aftermath of anti-Japan riots two months ago, according to a government study.

The Japan External Trade Organisation, a government-run agency that monitors and promotes trade, found that 151, or 36.5 per cent, of the 414 Japanese companies surveyed in May forecast a fall in sales in China this year because of boycotts and a ‘tarnished image’ for Japanese products.

Forty companies or 9.7 per cent, said their sales are already shrinking, the JETRO survey said.

Although more than half of the companies said the protests had no apparent effect on their sales, 13 per cent said they would rethink plans to invest in China or even move their factories to other countries, according to the survey, which was posted on the agency’s Web site.