Seminar in TTC Osaka Area
Event name : Quarterly Repot of Osaka Pref. and Osaka City’s Economic Situation
Date/Time : January 26, 2011 1:30pm — 2:40pm
Venue : Osaka Sangyo Sozokan
Co-organizers : Osaka Prefectural Government, City of OsakaOsaka City Urban Industry Promotion Center
Number of participants : about 100 people.
Every three months, Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City jointly organize seminar to report on Osaka economy. This seminar was the 4th seminar in FY2010. Speakers from both Osaka City and Prefecture presented economic data and their analysis on Osaka’s economic situation.
The first speaker, Mr. M. Machida of Osaka Industry & Economic Research Center of Osaka Pref. spoke based upon their economic outlook forecast survey conducted in early December, 2010. For the survey, 1622 companies answered (Large enterprises 9.4%, SME 90.6%; Manufacturer 32.9% Non-manufacturer 67.1%). DI (Diffusion Index) shows recovery from Lehman Shock. Large enterprises has better recovery rate than SMEs. Production price index is uprising and it is considered the price drop down stopped. Export has been increasing for 12 consecutive months (export to Asia helped increase and especially export to China has been showing larger increase). Domestic economy has ups and downs; this influenced by government measures to help domestic spending (such as Eco point for car and electronics). DI in investment in plant and equipment also shows better figure. Some companies have tried to invest for new products. Sales at large retailers (i.e. department stores and super markets) showed slight increase. Due to end of eco pint for new car (cash back for purchasing eco-friendly car), new car sales dropped. On the other hand, home appliance sales for eco point jumped over 100%. This was last minutes purchasing before the end of eco point system. New housing start showed slight increase. Index for production is still weak but company profit level recovered. New employment is not uprising and unemployment rate is 6.1% for Kinki region (All Japan rate is 5.1%). Company’s economic outlook for next quarter (Jan-Mar 2011) showed recovery. As to influence by high Yen, approx. 33.5% companies said they rather feel disbenefit from the appreciation of yen. Large enterprises said their profit decreased by currency exchange profit and loss. SMEs said they received less over because of appreciation of yean, and they also asked price down for severe competition. Both large enterprises and SMEs said they will continue to cut cost in anyway.
The second speaker, Mr. Tokuda, Chief Economic Researcher of Osaka City Urban Industry Promotion Center, presented his analysis on Osaka economy from the point of macro economics in the Kinki region. As we look back last 2 years economic situation, situation in Kinki region hit the bottom in September 2009 and has been showing gradual recovery over one year. Now we are seeing some stagnation in recovery but with sings of recovery. As we look into Osaka City’s economic situation, both demand and supply shoes ups and downs for last three month. In November, we saw some improvement in recruitment demand from companies, demand and supply were still weak and stagnation continued. But in December, we are finally seeing signs of recovery in employment, demand and supply. Among economic figures of Osaka City, export to overseas and manufacturing industries showed better ratio for recovery. However, service, investment in plants, employment and consumer spending were weaker than others. Forecast of FY2011 for Osaka City to be expected to have slightly better growth than all Japan.
Reported by Yasuko Seta, Thai Trade Center, Osaka
Source : http://www.depthai.go.th