El comercio exterior afecta al Asia
La desaceleracion del comercio exterior no muestran seniales de mejoria y podria empeorar,
Las exportaciones Chinas subieron solamnete 1% con respecto al anio pasado en Julio, las importaciones tambien anemicas crecieron solamente 4.7%, otra senial de que China no esta comprando a otras naciones.
Las importaciones de los demas paises del Asia cayo 0.6%, hubo desaceleracion en los dos meses anteriores tambien.
La mayor caida proviene de la desaparicion de la demanda de los paises desarrollados. Las exportaciones al Reino Unido cayeron 16%, a Japon -1%, a US +0.6% y esto principalmente por el precio de los commodities.
Las exportaciones de Taiwan cayeron 12% en Julio, las de Korea cayeron 8.6%
Trade Slowdown Squeezes Asia
By ALEX FRANGOS
HONG KONG—The Asian trade slowdown shows no signs of abating and could be getting worse, signaling another leg down for already fragile growth in the region.
China's July trade figures, out Friday, showed exports at a near standstill, up just 1% from a year earlier. Import growth was also anemic, at 4.7%, a signal that China's slowdown is rippling through to its buying from other nations.
Asia's trade slowdown shows no signs of abating and could be getting worse, signaling another leg down for already fragile growth in the region. The WSJ's Alex Frangos has the details.
.China's imports from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were actually down, off 0.6% in July from a year earlier. Growth had slowed in the two previous months. Trade between Southeast Asia and China often involves component parts that are assembled into finished goods that China then sends to the U.S., Japan and the European Union.
"The slowdown under way in China is already rippling across Asia, having a particularly large impact on commodity exporters and countries that export into China's supply chains," said Alistair Thornton, China economist at IHS Global Insight.
Much of China's trade weakness can be attributed to disappearing demand in the developed world. Compared with a year earlier, China's exports to the EU in July were down 16% and its exports to Japan down 1%. Its exports to the U.S. were almost flat, up just 0.6%. Price declines for such commodities as oil, copper and coal were a factor, as trade is measured by value rather than volume.
Financial markets reacted negatively to the disappointing trade data. The Australian dollar and Malaysian ringgit, currencies seen as proxies for China growth, fell. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.9% in afternoon trading.
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.Compared with the 2008-09 financial meltdown, when trade plummeted, the current falloff has been mild. But its impact on growth is noticeable in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Singapore reported revised second-quarter GDP figures Friday showing the trading hub's economy shrank 0.7% in the second quarter on an annualized, seasonally adjusted basis.
Some think trade could perk back up as Chinese government stimulus kicks in and if Europe salves its financial wounds and the U.S.'s latest rough patch turns out to be a blip.
So far, evidence of a turnaround is elusive.
"Given the importance of exports in some economies, it is quite worrisome," says Gareth Leather, economist for Asia at Capital Economics.
As China, Japan and India, the continent's top economies, struggle to varying degrees, their pain is transmitted to their trading partners. Japan, an important importer of everything from commodities to cashmere sweaters, bought just 5% more from the rest of Asia in the first half of 2012 than in the year-earlier period, a major shift from the double digit growth of recent years. As spending on recovery from last year's earthquake tails off, Japan imports could further decline.
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A crane lifts a container at a port in Wuhan; China's import and export growth slowed sharply in July.
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"There's a growing body of evidence that Japan's economic recovery has not just paused, but has started to unravel," Capital Economics economist David Rea wrote in a research note.
Companies exposed to the drop in construction in China and India are feeling it through lower raw-material prices. That's hurting corporate profits and investment as Australian and Indonesian coal miners cut back.
"The fall in coal prices will also make our targets this year unachievable," said Jenny Quantero, spokeswoman for listed Indonesia coal miner PT Bayan Resources BYAN.JK -0.87%. "For sure, they will affect our revenue and net profit but we don't yet how big the impact will be."
South Korea and Taiwan, often seen as canaries in the coal mine for trade—because of their heavy exposure to both the West and China and their position at the beginning of supply chains for electronics—are seeing the sharpest drops in trade.
Taiwan this reported its exports in July were down 12% from a year earlier, as shipments of computers and mobile phones slumped. South Korean exports were down 8.8% to $44.6 billion, the largest percentage fall in nearly three years and a significant hit to an economy where exports count for half of the gross domestic product.
The Bank of Korea kept interest rates steady Thursday after a surprise cut last month, but noted increased risks as both developed and emerging markets are hurting. Government officials are mulling stimulus measures to make up for the economic hole created by the drop in trade.
"With recent industrial output and trade data showing a slowdown, crisis management should be more stressed than ever," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told an economic policy meeting with relevant government agencies Wednesday.
In Japan, Komatsu Ltd., 6301.TO -1.29%which has prospered on China's rise in recent years, said construction-equipment sales in China were down by about half in the quarter ending in June. The company, which also makes mining equipment and industrial machinery, said sluggishness in the Chinese economy was worse than it previously thought.
The Philippines reported Friday its June exports were up a weak 4.2% as demand for electronic components dried up.
Mitsubishi Mirages leaving Thailand for Japan, whose first-half 2012 imports from the rest of Asia were up just 5% from a year earlier.
."The current economic conditions has stifled the recovery of our business," said Ernesto Santiago, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines. Based on weakness in Europe, the group recently slashed its forecast of 2012 export growth to between 5% and 6% from the previous 10% to 15%.
In Malaysia, a manufacturing hub in the middle of supply chains for technology and industrial items, imports were up just 3.4% in June, a sign companies are bringing in fewer components that will go into assembling finished goods later on.
"It's worrisome because it means the production chain in Asia is interrupted somewhere," Luca Silipo, economist for French investment bank Natixis in Hong Kong. "When one country slows down, it means sooner rather than later, the other countries will too."
Mr. Silipo worries the current slowdown isn't cyclical but reflects long-term headwinds to trade. He cites increased protectionism, as shown in complaints filed with the World Trade Organization. Higher capital requirements for banks are making trade finance more expensive, he says. And the world's largest importer, the U.S., is benefiting from a competitive advantage in energy costs thanks to cheap shale gas that is leading to more homegrown production of things like steel and cars.
"If the U.S. produces something it used to import," Mr. Silipo says, "then the trade flows start changing."
—Linda Silaen in Jakarta, Kenneth Maxwell in Tokyo, Natasha Brereton-Fukui in Singapore, Josephine Cuneta in Manila and Kwanwoo Jun in Seoul contributed to this article.
Write to Alex Frangos at
alex.frangos@wsj.com