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.