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India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for fiscal year (FY) 2020 ending on 31 March 2021 is forecast to contract by 9.0% as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic weighs heavily on economic activity and consumer sentiment in the country, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
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Many economic sectors in China including those of consumption, industrial production and investment showed more positive signs of returning to their normal tracks by the end of August, according to a series of highlights published individually by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on September 15.
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Over January-August,China’s fixed asset investment (FAI) still declined on year but narrowed to0.3%, and the funding in the domestic property market grew faster by4.6%on year, according to the latest release from the country's National Bureau of Statistics. A detailed report will be posted soon.
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China's crude steel output grew 3.7% on year to about 689 million tonnes over January-August, according to the latest release from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.A detailed report will be posted soon.
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In the first eight months of 2020, China imported more energy products such as crude oil,natural gas and coal,according to the latest statistics from the country’s General Administration of Customs published on September 7, and the slowing global economy had sent prices lower.
For crude oil, China imported 368 million tonnes
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Over January-August, China’s total foreign trade value dipped 0.6% on year, which narrowed further by 1.1 percentage points from that for the first seven months, but the imports values for both August and the first eight months decreased on year, the latest statistics from the country’s General Administration of Customs on September 7 showed.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, have been mulling the restart of two idled blast furnaces in the second half of fiscal 2020 (October 2020-March 2021) on noting the steady improvement in steel demand from the country’s auto sector, a Nippon Steel official confirmed on September 4.
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Over the last month, the major ASEAN economies have announced their Q2 2020 macroeconomics results. As expected, Q2 GDP figures are down for all countries (Table 1) as compared to Q1 2020 (Table 2). However, there are a few interesting areas to note.
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Japan's auto sales in August dropped by 16% on year, new industry data shows, as consumer confidence continued to languish in response to the coronavirus contagion. Nevertheless, last month’s result was not all bad, and sales this month are expected to show some improvement, doubtless to the relief of the country’s carbon and special steel producers, Mysteel Global notes.
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Japan’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry recovered by 2 basis points on month to 47.2 in August, being much higher than the 11-year low of 38.4 in May, indicating that the sector had been on the gradual recovery, according to the release from au Jibun Bank Corporation on September 1.
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China’s sizeable industrial firms still posted a 8.1% on-year decline in their gross profits for the first seven months of 2020, though the drop narrowed by 4.7 percentage points from that in the first half of 2020, according to the latest release by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
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Toyota Motor, Japan’s largest automaker, has informed its auto parts suppliers that it plans to maintain its daily output at about 13,000 units/day over September-November at its domestic plants, or roughly back to the pre-pandemic level, industry sources in Nagoya, central Japan and Tokyo shared on August 25.
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Japan’s steel exports fell by 18.5% on year to 2.47 million tonnes in July, or the third month with an on-year decline, as demand in Asia other than China, its core export destination, was seriously compromised by the COVID-19, Mysteel Global understood from the preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on August 19.
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Japan’s domestic carbon steel sales over January-June fell 19.7% on year to about 16.9 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation on August 17, and market sources expect the condition to improve over July-December though uncertainties persist.
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Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) over April-June fell by 27.8% on year to about Yen 485 trillion ($4.55 trillion) on an annual basis, according to the latest release by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan on August 17, which had been the steepest decline after the World War Two (WWII) because of the negative impact of the COVID-19, market sources commented.
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China’s fixed asset investment (FAI) still declined by 1.6% on year over January-July, but it narrowed from the 3.1% drop in the first half, and the funding in the domestic property market grew 3.4% on year by July against the 1.9% on-year growth in H1, indicating continuing recoveries in July, according to the latest data from China’s Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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Over January-July,China’s fixed asset investment (FAI) still declined on year but narrowed to1.6%, and the funding in the domestic property market gained a further 3.4%on year, according to the latest release from the country's National Bureau of Statistics. A detailed report will be posted soon.
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China's crude steel output grew 2.8% on year to about 593 million tonnes over January-July, according to the latest release from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.A detailed report will be posted soon.
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JFE Steel, Japan’s second largest integrated mill, plans to restart a banked blast furnace at its Fukuyama section of the West Japan Works around the end of August and target to return to the normal production in two months on noting the demand recovery especially from the auto sector, a company official shared on August 13.
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China’s total foreign trade value in Chinese Yuan still declined 1.7% on year over this year’s first seven months, though the drop narrowed by 1.5 percentage points from the first half of 2020 on the continuing improvement in July, the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) showed.
