Japan’s factory activity botlenecked to 1½-year-low as trade rows escalate

• Financial

On Tuesday, the 30th of July 2019, Japan’s government data showed the nation’s factory activity was telescoped by the most in one year and a half in June, remarking the latest G20 major to post a contraction in its manufacturing activity amid tepid demand over the narratives of a slowing global economy alongside a bruising US-China trade war taking a death toll in most of the export-oriented economies.

Tuesday’s (July 30th) data on Japan’s shrinking factory activity came forth after a few days a basket of global economic leaders including China, United States, South Korea, Germany, Italy and most of eurozone economies alongside emerging economies likes of Mexico and South Africa had reported a withering curb on their factory activity and eased monetary policy further to weather a sluggish global growth and declined demand amid a year-long Sino-US trade spat entering into its second year, which has still been contributing to a global-scale recession risk and wiping billions of dollars out of global financial markets.

Aside from a tormenting Sino-US trade war, Japan’s troubled trade relationship with South Korea, which piled up tensions around the shores of South Pacific over the recent week, had donated to a steep dwindling of factory activity in Japan.

According to government data released on Tuesday (July 30th), Japan’s industrial output slipped by 3.6 percent in June on a year-on-year basis, missing an analysts’ forecast of 2.0 percent more than a median and remarking the world’s third-largest economy’s worst slump since January 2018.

Nonetheless, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, industrial output rose by 0.5 percent during Q2, 2019, after posting a plunge of 2.5 percent during first quarter of the year, while a top official of Japanese government said, “Industrial output growth has been moving sideways. ”