Japan manufacturers in ASEAN upbeat on earnings
Japan manufacturers in ASEAN upbeat on earnings
Doutche Press-Agentur
Singapore
More Japanese manufacturers in ASEAN are hopeful of achieving
higher operating profits next year due to a better outlook for
exports, a published survey said on Wednesday.
The Japan External Trade Organization's (Jetro's) survey,
which also included India, showed 51 percent of the Japanese
manufacturers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and India reporting improved prospects for operating
profits in 2004, up from 49 percent for 2003, according to
results in The Business Times.
ASEAN comprises Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar (Burma).
Forty-six per cent of manufacturers in Singapore reported
improved prospects for operating profits in 2004, up from 37
percent for 2003.
Higher domestic demand, increased sales prices and lower costs
were cited as factors for the improved outlook for profits from
the region.
More than half of the Japanese manufacturers in ASEAN export
at least 70 percent of their output, including apparel and
textiles, electrical and electronic equipment as well as
electronic parts and components.
A quarter of them said Japan accounts for the bulk of their
exports while 16 percent indicated ASEAN as the main market.
The survey covered 1,130 companies.
Japanese manufacturers in ASEAN are also purchasing more raw
materials and parts from local suppliers, encouraged by cost
savings provided by the ASEAN free trade pact.
Increasingly, many are also sourcing for electronic parts and
components in China.
"Countries that answered with relatively high rates for future
procurement from China included the Philippines (30.5 percent),
India (26.9 percent), Singapore (25.4 percent) and Malaysia
(22.2) percent, which were all higher than the overall rate (19.9
percent)," Jetro said in its survey report.
Japanese manufacturers complained of "troublesome and
complicated customs formalities and other foreign trade
procedures" in many of the countries surveyed.