Japan Vehicle Exports Dive 23% : Trade: November marks the eighth straight drop in worldwide automobile exports. Japan’s sharp fall is due to the high yen’s effect on the nation’s products overseas.

Japanese auto makers, battered by the high yen, on Friday reported a steep 23% drop in November vehicle exports compared to last year.

The strong yen makes Japanese products more expensive overseas, and has cut deeply into the earnings of Japanese companies that are heavily dependent on foreign sales.

November marked the eighth straight month in which worldwide vehicle exports fell compared to the same month last year, and the fourth month in a row in which exports to the United States fell.

Worldwide exports of cars, buses and trucks last month totaled 330,633 units, the auto makers said. Exports to the United States stood at 136,443 in November, down 16%.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers’ Assn., which announced the figures, said the strong yen will probably lead Japanese auto makers to step up foreign production in a bid to keep costs down.

Major auto makers have already begun moving more production overseas, a trend that has caused concern here about the Japanese auto industry.

Earlier this week, Nissan Motor Corp. predicted its yearly exports in 1994 would fall 20%. It has said it will increase overseas production.

Japan’s export of cars to the United States is a crucial issue in ongoing trade talks.

Jeffrey Garten, an undersecretary of commerce, was in Tokyo for informal talks with Japanese trade negotiators earlier this week. But he said the positions of the two countries were still far apart--even though the two nations are seeking to reach an agreement by mid-February.

Last month’s exports to Europe were also weak, reflecting the economic slowdown in most European Community nations, the Japanese trade group said. And it said exports to Asia, Central and South America and the Middle East also fell.

Late last year and earlier this year, a sharp expansion in demand had boosted exports to those regions, but the auto makers said demand had lately fallen off.