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RTÉ News
17 hours ago
- RTÉ News
China's July factory-gate prices miss forecast, deflation concerns persist
China's producer prices fell more than expected in July, while consumer prices were unchanged, underscoring the impact of sluggish domestic demand and persistent trade uncertainty on consumer and business sentiment. Factory-gate prices have been declining for more than two years, and the latest weekend data suggest early-stage efforts to tackle price competition have yet to yield significant results. Deflationary pressures have prompted Chinese authorities to address overcapacity in key industries. However, the latest round of industrial restructuring appears to be a pared-down version of the sweeping supply-side reforms launched a decade ago that were pivotal in ending a deflationary spiral. The producer price index (PPI) fell 3.6% year on year in July, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, missing economists' forecast of a 3.3% slide and matching the near two-year low recorded in June. Extreme weather and global trade uncertainties contributed to price declines in some industries, Dong Lijuan, NBS chief statistician, said in a statement. However, on a month-on-month basis, PPI shrank 0.2%, improving from June's 0.4% drop. Despite the headline figures, some analysts see signs of easing deflationary pressure. Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ, pointed to improvements in month-on-month PPI and year-on-year core CPI. He expects the current "anti-involution" policy measures - aimed at curbing disorderly competition in sectors like autos -to begin lifting year-on-year PPI from August. Still, other analysts remain cautious, noting that without demand-side stimulus or reforms to improve people's welfare, the measures may have limited impact on final demand. A prolonged housing downturn and fragile trade relations with the US also continue to weigh on consumer spending and factory activity. China's consumer price index (CPI) was flat year-on-year in July, compared with a 0.1% rise in June, NBS data showed, beating a Reuters poll forecast of a 0.1% slide. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, was 0.8% in July from a year earlier, the highest in 17 months. Food prices fell 1.6%, following a 0.3% decline in June. Extreme weather added to the economic strain, with sweltering heat gripping much of China's eastern seaboard last month and heavier-than-usual downpours lashing the country with the East Asian monsoon stalling over its north and south. On a monthly basis, the CPI edged up 0.4%, against a 0.1% drop in June and exceeding forecasts for a 0.3% rise. "Nonetheless it is still unclear if this is the end of deflation in China," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. "The property sector has not stabilised. The economy is still supported more by external demand than domestic consumption. The labour market remains weak," he said.
The Sun
18 hours ago
- The Sun
Malaysia attracts 1.8 million Chinese tourists in early 2025 with visa waiver
KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 1.8 million tourists from China visited Malaysia between January and May 2025. This surge follows the visa waiver introduced for Chinese travellers in 2024. Deputy Tourism Minister Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan noted arrivals rose from 1.6 million in 2023 to 3.4 million last year. The ministry is collaborating with travel agencies to attract more Chinese tourists, especially Muslim travellers. Over 100 imams from China and Europe were invited to experience Malaysia's Muslim-friendly tourism. Khairul Firdaus said this concept suits travellers of all backgrounds and religions. He was responding to a question in Parliament about efforts to attract Chinese Muslim tourists. Integrated promotions highlight attractions like the Crystal Mosque to ASEAN, Europe, and East Asian markets. These efforts aim to benefit local industries such as homestays, handicrafts, and traditional foods. - Bernama
AllAfrica
18 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Fewer cradles, more canes: East Asia's demographic reckoning
East Asia faces an unprecedented demographic transformation that will reshape the region's economic and social foundations within decades. From Seoul to Singapore, fertility rates have collapsed below replacement levels, creating aging societies with shrinking workforces and mounting care demands. While this crisis spans multiple countries, Japan provides the clearest window into both the challenges ahead and potential solutions, having reached the most advanced stage of demographic decline. The regional scope is staggering. South Korea's fertility rate has plummeted to 0.72, the world's lowest, while China's has fallen to 1.09 despite abandoning its one-child policy. Taiwan sits at 0.87, and Singapore at 0.97. These aren't temporary fluctuations but sustained collapses driven by shared pressures: intense educational competition, high living costs, demanding work cultures and persistent gender inequalities that burden women with disproportionate caregiving responsibilities. Japan, as the demographic frontrunner, illustrates where this trajectory leads. In 2024, births fell to 686,061—the first time below 700,000 since 1899—while deaths approached 1.6 million, shrinking the population by 900,000 people. The fertility rate dropped to 1.15, and in Tokyo, it's below 1.0. With seniors comprising 30% of the population and working-age adults only 59%, Japan faces smaller tax bases, strained pensions and regions struggling with aging and decline. The Japanese experience reveals why conventional policy responses fail across the region. Despite extensive family-friendly policies, including child allowances and parental leave, births continue falling because three fundamental barriers persist throughout East Asia. High-intensity work cultures directly conflict with family formation, especially for women caught between career demands and caregiving expectations. Marriage-centric approaches to parenthood reduce births when marriage itself becomes delayed or avoided. Rising costs of housing, education and child-rearing push desired family sizes below replacement levels, particularly in expensive metropolitan areas. These create self-reinforcing cycles visible across the region: fewer young adults produce fewer births, accelerating aging and fiscal pressure, which tightens labor markets and makes family formation even harder. China's shrinking workforce, South Korea's pension crisis and Singapore's foreign worker dependence all reflect variations of this dynamic. Japan's evolution toward immigration as a partial solution foreshadows regional trends. Foreign residents reached 3.6 million in early 2025, reflecting policy shifts that other East Asian countries are beginning to emulate. However, immigration alone cannot reverse age structures quickly enough, and political sensitivities remain high across the region. The crucial challenge is integrating immigrants effectively to stabilize productivity and social cohesion. Rather than chasing birth rate recovery, East Asian societies need comprehensive strategies for thriving with smaller, older populations. Japan's emerging approach offers a regional template across several dimensions. Work redesign represents the first priority. Default flexibility with strict overtime limits and predictable scheduling challenges the region's notorious work cultures. Corporate incentives should be tied to concrete caregiving and flexibility improvements, not just policy promises. This applies equally to South Korea's demanding corporate culture and China's '996' work expectations. Making parenthood low-friction requires treating early childhood care as critical infrastructure. Universal, high-quality childcare within reasonable distances, backed by guaranteed spots, addresses cost and availability barriers across the region. Portable benefits independent of employment or marital status support contemporary life patterns from Seoul to Shanghai. Normalizing diverse family pathways means decoupling benefits from marriage and supporting single parents and cohabiting partners. Tax and pension systems should encourage rather than penalize dual-earner households, challenging traditional gender roles that persist across East Asian societies. Building 'silver productivity' economies through age-tech, robotics and AI-enabled care platforms offers opportunities to turn demographic challenges into competitive advantages. Regional cooperation in developing these technologies could create exportable expertise in serving aging populations globally. Immigration strategies must shift toward long-term settlement with language training, credential recognition, and anti-discrimination enforcement. Singapore's managed approach and Japan's recent visa expansions suggest models that China and South Korea might adapt. The political economy of this transition varies across the region but shares common elements. Success requires coalitions spanning seniors, employers and younger households, with immigration policies becoming predictably stable. China's authoritarian system offers different tools than democratic Taiwan or South Korea, but all face similar distributional negotiations about who pays for change and how quickly institutions adapt. East Asia can pioneer the world's first cluster of successful 'high-longevity, low-fertility' societies that maintain prosperity by maximizing capability at every age and background. This vision prioritizes time for caregivers, dignity for aging citizens, and inclusion for new residents across national boundaries. Japan's role as the demographic frontrunner makes it a crucial test case. If Japan develops effective adaptation strategies, they can inform approaches across the region and beyond. Many Western countries face similar but delayed transitions, making East Asian innovations globally relevant. The demographic crisis spans East Asia, but so does the opportunity for solutions. Japan's experience as the leading edge offers both warnings and hope for neighbors following the same path. The question isn't whether these societies will age and shrink—that's already happening. The question is whether they can build thriving models adapted to that reality, potentially transforming one of the 21st century's greatest challenges into a source of innovation and global leadership. Y. Tony Yang is an endowed professor and associate dean at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
