Latest news with #factoryoutput
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Irish Factory Output Slumped in June as Exports to U.S. Fell
Ireland's factory output fell sharply in June as exports to the U.S. halved, helping to push the economy into contraction after a first-quarter boom. The country's Central Statistics Office on Friday said manufacturing output was 12.0% lower than in May, having risen sharply in that earlier month. Over the three months through June, output was 2.1% lower than in the first quarter.
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany factory output falls to lowest since pandemic in 2020
German industrial production slumped in June to its lowest level since the pandemic in 2020, data showed Thursday, underlining the fragility of Europe's top economy even before US President Donald Trump's new tariffs kicked in. Factory output fell 1.9 percent month-on-month, federal statistics agency Destatis said, steeper than a drop of 0.5 percent forecast by analysts polled by financial data firm FactSet. There were particularly heavy falls in the machinery and pharmaceutical sectors, helping to drag overall output down to levels last seen in May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Destatis also made a major revision to May industrial production data, saying the indicator fell 0.1 percent. It had previously reported a healthy rise of 1.2 percent. ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said the dire data could prompt a downward revision to an already poor initial estimate showing that the economy shrank slightly in the second quarter. "This is bad news," he said. "At face value, industry remains stuck in a very long bottoming out." - Political setback - Fixing the eurozone's traditional export powerhouse has been a key priority for Germany's conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with the economy battered in recent years by high energy costs and fierce Chinese competition. Plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on infrastructure upgrades and rearmament -- combined with a series of brighter data releases since the start of the year -- had raised hopes that the worst might be over for Europe's export champion. German business morale rose to its highest level in July after seven straight increases, while think tanks including the respected DIW institute have revised growth forecasts up for 2025 and 2026. But hard data on business activity has been mixed, raising fears that the improved mood was down to unfounded optimism. Some experts say better data early in the year was the temporary effect of US "front-loading" as American customers rushed to get orders in before Trump's tariffs took effect. "Optimism still seems to be based on a big portion of wishful thinking and is not at all matched by current data," Brzeski said. "For now, what looked like a cyclical rebound in the making has only been US front-loading." Pointing to increased investment and an uptick in retail sales, however, Berenberg analyst Holger Schmieding said there were signs of green shoots for the German economy. "The situation at home seems to be stabilising," he said. "German consumers are opening their wallets at least cautiously." - Tariff troubles - A new baseline US levy of 15 percent on EU exports took effect Thursday, up from 10 percent in effect since April, stiffening the tariff faced by Germany's exporters even while leaving many of them mired in uncertainty. Export data released Thursday showed that German exports in June to the United States -- the country's biggest trading partner -- fell 2.1 percent, even as they rose 0.8 percent worldwide. And data released Wednesday showed that industrial orders -- closely watched as an indicator of future business activity -- fell 1.0 percent month-on-month in June, after dropping 0.8 percent in May. The United States is also carrying out investigations into sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductor equipment, heightening worries about worse to come. "The tariffs are a big burden for German companies," the head of the German chambers of commerce, Helena Melnikov, told AFP. "Don't forget that tariffs were usually between zero and about two percent at the most beforehand." "It could even come out worse for a variety of sectors because negotiations are ongoing," she added. "It is a real setback and makes it harder to do business in Germany." vbw/fz/rl
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China manufacturing sinks again in July as US trade talks stall
China's factory output shrank more than expected in July, official data showed on Thursday, logging its fourth straight month of contraction as Beijing battles to hammer out a trade deal with the United States. The Purchasing Managers' Index -- a key measure of industrial output -- came in at 49.3, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, down from 49.7 in June and significantly off the 50-point mark separating growth and contraction. A Bloomberg analysts' poll had forecast the index would be the same as in June. "The manufacturing sector's business climate sank lower compared to the previous month," NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe said. The decline was "driven by factors such as the industry's traditional slack period as well as high temperatures, heavy rains and floods in some areas", Zhao said. China has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery since the pandemic, as it fights a debt crisis in the crucial property sector, chronically low consumption and elevated youth unemployment. A spate of natural disasters has also hit the country this summer, with at least 48 people killed and tens of thousands evacuated this week as northern China endured some of its worst floods in years. "While the statistics bureau partly attributed the decline to weather-related disruptions to production, the breakdown suggests that demand has softened too," Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, said. "The new export orders index dropped back as high tariffs began to weigh again," Huang added. "More of the current weakness in demand appears to be domestic in nature," she said. China's bruising trade war with the United States -- now on hold pending a deal -- has hit the export-dependent economy. Beijing and Washington called a 90-day truce on the staggeringly high duties in May, and held two days of talks this week aimed at avoiding their reimposition on August 12. Despite signs that both sides want to extend that deadline, the negotiations ended without an agreement. mjw/oho/tym Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China manufacturing sinks again in July as US trade talks stall
China's factory output shrank more than expected in July, official data showed on Thursday, logging its fourth straight month of contraction as Beijing battles to hammer out a trade deal with the United States. The Purchasing Managers' Index -- a key measure of industrial output -- came in at 49.3, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, down from 49.7 in June and significantly off the 50-point mark separating growth and contraction. A Bloomberg analysts' poll had forecast the index would be the same as in June. "The manufacturing sector's business climate sank lower compared to the previous month," NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe said. The decline was "driven by factors such as the industry's traditional slack period as well as high temperatures, heavy rains and floods in some areas", Zhao said. China has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery since the pandemic, as it fights a debt crisis in the crucial property sector, chronically low consumption and elevated youth unemployment. A spate of natural disasters has also hit the country this summer, with at least 48 people killed and tens of thousands evacuated this week as northern China endured some of its worst floods in years. "While the statistics bureau partly attributed the decline to weather-related disruptions to production, the breakdown suggests that demand has softened too," Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, said. "The new export orders index dropped back as high tariffs began to weigh again," Huang added. "More of the current weakness in demand appears to be domestic in nature," she said. China's bruising trade war with the United States -- now on hold pending a deal -- has hit the export-dependent economy. Beijing and Washington called a 90-day truce on the staggeringly high duties in May, and held two days of talks this week aimed at avoiding their reimposition on August 12. Despite signs that both sides want to extend that deadline, the negotiations ended without an agreement. mjw/oho/tym Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
10-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
BOJ finds US tariff hit to exports limited for now
TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - The impact on Japan's output and exports from U.S. tariffs is limited for the time being but many companies are worried about the risk of tariffs weakening global demand, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday. Some areas in Japan have seen companies delay or review capital expenditure plans, whereas others have seen companies increase spending to streamline operations and cope with labour shortages, showed a summary of the BOJ's quarterly meeting of regional branch managers. "At present, the impact was limited overall," the bank said about how higher U.S. tariffs were affecting exports and factory output across Japan. "As for the outlook, many regions saw companies voice concern about slumping demand from rising U.S. sales prices and a slowdown in the global economy," the bank said. The findings, from surveys conducted by regional branch managers, highlight how companies are not able to fully grasp the potential impact of higher U.S. tariffs due to the mutability of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy. They do not reflect Trump's announcement on Monday to raise tariffs on Japanese goods to 25% from 10% unless a trade deal is struck by August 1, a BOJ official told reporters. In a separate report, the BOJ said the economies of all nine regions were recovering moderately, maintaining its assessment from three months earlier. The summary and report will be among factors the BOJ will scrutinise at its next policy meeting on July 30-31, when the board will issue fresh quarterly growth and price forecasts. Companies' outlook on wages and prices were mixed. Some firms hinted at cutting bonuses if U.S. tariffs hurt profit, whereas others saw the need to keep hiking wages to retain talent, the summary showed. While many firms expected to keep hiking prices to pass on rising input and labour costs, some held back price increases as consumers became more thrifty, the summary showed. The BOJ ended a decade-long stimulus programme last year and in January raised its policy interest rate to 0.5% on the view that inflation was on the cusp of durably meeting its 2% target. It cut its growth forecasts at its previous meeting on May 1 and signalled a pause in rate hikes after Trump raised the prospect of higher tariffs. The central bank has said wages must keep rising and help achieve sustained inflation before it can resume rate hikes.
