High economic growth continued in countries such as China, India, Russia, and some in the Middle East, and Japan's exports to these countries increased considerably. As a result, the variety of goods exported, previously confined mainly to IT-related and durable consumer goods, broadened to include goods such as construction machinery and materials.
Second, on the supply side, linkages between various industries in Japan became weaker as international diversification of production sites continued. When materials necessary to produce a particular good were imported rather than secured domestically, a decrease in domestic demand for this good did not have large direct negative effects on other domestic industries through the input-output relationship, although it reduced imports of materials.