Japan’s exports fell by a record 49.4 percent in February as deepening recessions in the U.S. and Europe, and a sharp slowdown in China hit demand for Japanese products around the globe. Shipments to the U.S., still Japan’s biggest market, dropped an unprecedented 58.4 percent from a year earlier. Car exports were down 70.9 percent. This follows January’s year on year drop of 45.7%.

February’s drop in exports was the greatest since at least 1980, when the government started to keep comparable data.

Japan’s ageing population and workforce has lead it to become increasingly reliant on exports for GDP growth, as consumer demand stagnates internally. Japan is thus especially sensitive to changes in world trade patterns, and with the World Trade Organization forecasting trade will shrink 9 percent this year (the most since World War II) Japan looks especially vulnerable. During Japan’s expansion of 2002 to 2007, exports rose as a portion of GDP to 15.6 percent from 10.4 percent.

And it isn’t only Japan which will be affected by this, since imports were down by 43%, and of course China is quite dependent on exports it sends to Japan.