BOJTOKYO (NQN)--The diffusion index for consumer sentiment improved 20.8 points from three months earlier to minus 41.2 in June, according to the Bank of Japan.
The reading, calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents who say their living conditions had worsened compared to a year earlier from the percentage of those who say the opposite, approached the minus 40.7 reading seen in December 2007, before the onset of the global financial crisis.
The largest share of respondents, 51.3%, said their answer was based on their personal or family income, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous survey. The next largest segment, 39.6%, based their response on business conditions at their company or shop.
The latest survey shows that declines in Japan's employment and income are coming to a halt, while households are starting to see the benefit of the gradual economic recovery, against a backdrop of recovering corporate earnings.
The index for what people expect one year down the road improved 6.7 points on the quarter to minus 11.2, marking the second straight rise.The central bank polled 4,000 men and women age 20 or older from May 13 through June 8. The valid response rate was 57.8%.
Source:The Nikkei July 7, 2010
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. is expanding into Asia outside Japan with dietary materials derived from fish resources.
In South Korea, the firm will market a salmon peptide that can lower blood pressure. And in China, it will market DHA derived from bonito as an ingredient for powdered milk. The health-food materials business of Maruha Nichiro generated revenue of some 10 billion yen in the year ended March -- a figure the company aims to double over the next three years to help compensate for the leveling off of its main business of marine products.
Foreign sales now make up just 10% of that business, with Maruha Nichiro also hoping to double the contribution to 20% over the same three years.These planned forays into South Korea and China are part of this larger strategy.
The blood-pressure-lowering peptide, extracted from the meat and skin of salmon, has been approved in Japan as a food for specified health use. Maruha Nichiro plans to market the product in South Korea as both a dietary supplement and an ingredient that food manufacturers can add to dairy products and beverages.
In China, the firm seeks to tap the growing health awareness of the affluent, selling high-quality DHA refined at a new Japanese factory for use by makers of powdered milk products.
Source:The Nikkei July 8, 2010
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Orders placed with electronic parts manufacturers, considered an important leading economic indicator, have continued to rise, reflecting an increase in demand for digital equipment in both emerging and industrialized economies.
Murata Mfg Co. and four other top Japanese electronic parts makers received orders worth a combined 830 billion yen in the April-June quarter, up 10% over the previous three-month period and close to the 834 billion yen of July-September 2008, before the so-called Lehman shock dampened global economic activity. Year on year, orders are up nearly 30%.
Murata booked orders worth 165 billion yen in the April-June period, up 10% from the previous quarter, thanks largely to brisk demand for capacitors and wireless communications parts used in mobile phones and other devices. Murata is operating at full capacity, thanks to the growth in orders, as well as a 15% rise in its order backlog from the end of March to 82 billion yen.
Kyocera Corp.'s orders are estimated to have risen 10%. The company plans to boost production of packages for electronic parts and image pickup devices by 50% in the business year ending next March 31. Nidec Corp. shipped 135 million small, precision motors for hard disk drives in the April-June period, an all-time high.
Alps Electric Co. posted a gain of more than 10% in orders received in the April-June period from the previous quarter, mirroring a pickup in demand for automotive electronics.
TDK Corp. is enjoying strong sales of magnetic heads for external hard disk drives, and demand for electronic components, including those used in industrial equipment and automobiles, is "improving as a whole," said the company's president, Takehiro Kamigama.
The increase in demand for electronic parts is due partly to growth in emerging economies, as well as a recovery in demand for digital equipment in industrialized countries. With the market for gadgets like smartphones and e-book readers taking off, parts manufacturers are scrambling for supplies.
Orders placed with electronic parts makers bottomed out in the January-March quarter of 2009, avoiding the usual drop after the year-end shopping season.Demand for electronic components is likely to remain strong through the summer and soar in autumn, as usual, ahead of the year-end shopping season.But the rebound could sputter if fiscal problems in Europe hamper global economic activity.
Source:The Nikkei July 9, 2010
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Japan's real gross domestic product likely grew an annualized 1.63% on the quarter for the April-June period, according to a survey of private-sector economists.
The figure is 0.02 percentage point lower than a previous prediction for the three-month period.GDP growth through the July-September quarter of 2011 is projected at less than 2%.Meanwhile, the economists anticipate the downtrend in the consumer price index to come to an end in the January-March quarter of 2012, with a year-on-year gain of 0.05%. Many see Japan overcoming deflation at a glacial pace.
The July edition of the ESP Forecast survey was released Thursday by the Cabinet Office-affiliated Economic Planning Association. Conducted from June 24 through July 1, it targeted 39 experts at financial institutions, think tanks and other entities.
Source:The Nikkei July 9, 2010
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The ruling Democratic Party of Japan's probable major Upper House election defeat Sunday could impede the government's efforts to reduce its massive debt, and makes it uncertain how long Prime Minister Naoto Kan will be able to stay on, analysts say.
Local media exit polls are projecting that the DPJ suffered a big loss, keeping only about 47 or 48 of the 54 seats it was contesting in the election. The DPJ needed to win 60 seats of the 121 up for grabs to secure a majority by itself, or 57 together with its coalition partner.
Many voters who had embraced the DPJ in the lower house elections last August have grown disillusioned with the new ruling party. Kan's appointment last month seemed to lift the party out of its funk, but his surprising campaign pledge to increase the national sales tax is now weighing on the party's popularity.
The DPJ will remain the ruling party regardless of the outcome of Sunday's elections because of its huge majority in the more-powerful lower house. But a loss of a majority would force Kan to scramble to find a new coalition strategy so the DPJ can somehow forge a working majority to get legislation through the chamber.
The expected election outcome means the party would need to persuade one of the bigger opposition parties to join hands and make policy compromises along the way.
Analysts said that because the proposed sales tax rise appears to be a key reason why the DPJ did so badly, it might have to rethink its proposal to lift the tax to secure more revenue for the government. But without higher taxes, Tokyo will likely struggle to cut its public debt, nearing 200% of gross domestic product.
The expected major defeat also means some members of the party could start pressuring Kan to step down to take responsibility. Such a move could gain momentum toward an internal party election scheduled for September, where Kan must receive members' approval to stay as party leader, thus prime minister.
If Kan ends up losing his job he would be the fifth consecutive Japanese prime minister to step down a year or less into the job.
Prime Minister Kan said Sunday evening that he will not resign regardless of how the results will be in the upper house election, the Nikkei reported.
"The election has injected a lot of uncertainty into the policy making process, and that is going to be negative for the markets. The results are also a major setback for Kan's push for fiscal consolidation," said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust's Inoue said that overseas investors might sell the yen, "as they may interpret the election results to mean that the government could have difficulties making policy from now on" due to a split parliament.
Source:The Nikkei July 11, 2010
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Spending by female consumers is benefitting Japan -- which has long struggled under deflationary pressure -- and finding its way into market sectors traditionally regarded as men's. Certain features of "womenomics" stand out if analyzed from the viewpoints of consumption, work and investment.
The trend is a "reverse phenomenon" between men and women triggered by the equal employment opportunity law that has enabled more women to work outside the home and earn larger disposable incomes, said Tetsuaki Higashida of Dentsu Communication Institute Inc., a think tank belonging to Dentsu Inc. (4324), Japan's largest advertising agency. The presence of women is more noticeable in consumption sectors.
A condo at Park Luxe Residential Salon in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo: Condominiums targeting women remain in strong demand.
Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co. has almost finished selling 350 condominiums in eight complexes under the name Park Luxe near rail stations in midtown Tokyo targeting single working women around age 40.
The condos are designed to attract such women, with features like upgraded security systems and luxury kitchen and bathroom facilities. Each condo generally has 40 sq. meters of floor space and is priced at the 40 million yen (452,000 dollar) level, compared with the 30 sq. meters and 20-30 million for condos used to promote to single women.
A large number of buyers "has prepared a down payment of nearly 20 million yen and don't care about tax breaks for mortgage loans," said a Mitsui official.
Kirin Brewery Co. has unexpectedly enticed housewives with its nonalcoholic beer called Free. The company released the product to prevent drunk driving but has found strong demand among women who avoid beer but wish to feel like they are drinking.
Women account for 50% of those who buy Free, against 40% for conventional beer products, according to the brewer.
The propensity to spend is stronger among women than men, according to a Cabinet Office survey. Another survey, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) of the U.S., found that more than 60 percent of spending decisions in Japan are made by women.
The BCG expects the total income of women in the world to grow from 12 trillion dollars in 2008 to 15 trillion dollars in 2013. Statistical evidence
There is also statistical evidence of women's strong propensity for spending amid deflation.
The consumer price index for women's items, compiled by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. based on CPI data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, traces sales of women's apparel, prepared food and 46 other items expected to grow along with an increase in the number of women working outside the home.
While deflationary pressure has grown stronger since 2009 following the onset of the financial crisis in fall 2008, the index has dropped more slowly than the CPI for items excluding women's.
Source:The Nikkei Veritas July 11, 2010
The Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Tokyo, Japan
Source : http://www.depthai.go.th