US to blame for trade talks failure: French minister

U.S. protectionism is being blamed by French and German government ministers for important free trade talks between the U.S. and the European Union teetering on the brink of collapse.

“Those who are protectionist are Americans, Europe is very open,” Matthias Fekl, France’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, told CNBC on Monday.

France is prepared to walk away from the negotiations for the high-profile Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) if no progress is made, he added.

Fekl’s comments come after Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, said over the weekend that TTIP has failed, but “nobody is really admitting it”. Gabriel is likely to be campaigning against pro-TTIP Chancellor Angela Merkel next year.

Later on Monday, a spokesperson for the European Commission insisted the “ball is still rolling” on the deal

TTIP – and its Asia-Pacific equivalent, the Trans-Pacific Partnership – are a key tenet of the President Barack Obama’s policies and are designed to make trade simpler by eliminating many of the tariffs in place to protect particular goods and industries. However, they have become a target for fears about the potential negative fallout from globalization.

The political tide has been turning against TTIP and TTP for some time, with U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledging to “never sign any trade agreement which hurts our workers or which diminishes our freedom and independence” – a swipe at TTIP.

While increased trade and the removal of barriers to trade appear on one hand to benefit both sides of the agreement, negotiations have stalled over whether the benefits would be evenly distributed.

There has been a substantial grassroots campaign in Germany against the deal, fuelled by concerns that the agreement might lower the standards of goods, cause job losses or allow greater powers to big business to sue governments. France’s President Francois Hollande has also criticized the deal for favoring the interests of U.S. businesses over Europeans.

The groundswell of opposition is part of a growing mistrust of elites and globalization around the world, including the surprise vote in June for the U.K. to leave the EU – which means it will not be part of TTIP. The U.K. would have been up to £10 billion a year better off under TTIP if it had stayed within the EU, according to the U.K. business group the Confederation of British Industry.

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Equipmentimes Enlists Credible Machinery Suppliers to Facilitate Offshore Companies in Procuring China Production Lines

Equipmentimes (Dalian) E-Commerce Co., Ltd. endeavors to create a safe purchasing environment for global companies willing to import machinery and equipment from China. The company has a trustworthy, professional team that checks the credibility of the machinery manufacturers in China before listing them on their website. One can find detailed listings of machinery and equipment suppliers online for importing machines to help set up an industry in their own country.

According to the spokesperson of Equipmentimes, they allow a free registration for ChineseMachinery Suppliers to showcase their machinery and production lines before the world. The company’s website has a large number of international visitors who rely on the site for gathering information about machinery and equipment suppliers in China. However, Equipmentimes professionals maintain a strict procedure for verifying the authenticity and credibility of the suppliers. “Only credible suppliers are allowed to enlist their machinery and production lines with us,” the spokesperson reveals.

Besides facilitating the import of China Machinery, Equipmentimes offers a variety of services, such as trade financing and legitimate right protection. They make efforts to simplify the cross-border procurement process and offer a wide variety of solutions to help establish international trade. The spokesperson reveals that they help international companies in overcoming technical difficulties when it comes to importing machinery or equipment from China. The professionals of the company provide match making service, allowing an importing company to get the best machinery with precise specifications.

Equipmentimes has the experience of providing procurement solutions focusing on China Production Lines for global companies to help set up production units for manufacturing a wide variety of items. The spokesperson maintains that they try to offer customized services for offshore clients to establish a business relationship with reliable Chinese suppliers. Based on the requirements of a buyer, they find out a suitable manufacturer or supplier in China that can supply the best machinery at an affordable cost.

To take advantage of the listing of the Chinese machinery and equipment suppliers, one can visit the website http://www.equipmentimes.com/

About Equipmentimes (Dalian) E-Commerce Co., Ltd.

Equipmentimes is wholly-owned subsidiary of Liaoning MEC Group Co., Ltd.

Equipmentimes aims to serve as an international influential third-party service platform, helping SMEs to free them from the tedious import and export business process and enabling them to concentrate on production and development. At the same time, they try to build a dynamic e-commerce industry by strengthening financial services. Equipmentimes helps SMEs to achieve international trade facilitation in a highly efficient and low cost way.

Farmers prepare for big harvest with equipment repairs

The Franklin County farmer is a stickler for preparation. He has a lot of equipment going into the field, and does everything possible to make sure things go smoothly.

“We’re pretty spoiled because we run new equipment,” he said. “Our combines are running in their third season.”

Hood grows corn, soybeans and wheat on 7,000 acres in Franklin County. All that acreage requires a lot of iron, and he has it.

His equipment shed is filled with tractors combines, planters, heads and various other machinery.

The key to being ready for harvest is leaving little to chance before heading out to the field, he believes.

A large shop a short distance from the farm houses offices and space for equipment maintenance and repair. It formerly served as a mine equipment repair shop, but like many other such businesses, couldn’t weather the downturn in the coal mining industry in the region.

“The whole farm gets run out of here,” Hood said. “This keeps it away from the house, which is nice. I bought this thing on the courthouse steps on a foreclosure, and we built a shop. We do all of our maintenance work here.”

Hood and his employees keep his combines running throughout the harvest season largely because they take care of everything during the time between harvest and planting.

“We went through the equipment completely for the winter,” he said.

“We cleaned, polished and waxed them. We’ve got 1,000 acres of wheat. We can cut it in a day and a half, then we put it back in the barn and they’re ready to go. We really do all our maintenance in the winter.”

The Hood farm is self-operated; he doesn’t depend on any custom work. Besides the planters and combines, the farm runs four semis to the grain elevators.

“We do 100 percent farming,” Hood said. “We spread all our own fertilizer, do all of our own spraying and do all of our own trucking. It’s all in-house. That keeps us busy.”


Before moving into the fields, the crew checks tires and brakes on vehicles and makes sure the grain haulers satisfy Department of Transportation regulations. Combines don’t generally require last-minute fixes.

“Every morning we go over everything,” Hood said. “There’s always something, like a loose bolt. Not really much goes wrong. If something does go wrong with a corn head, it’s usually operator error, where it’s run into something, or gets into a ditch.”

Any problems that occur in the field are usually taken care of immediately.

A fully stocked service truck follows combines into the field. In the spring, it carries tractor and planter parts; in the fall, it is equipped with parts for combines, grain buggies and haulers. A mobile air compressor is also on board.

“With a flat tire, we usually fix those right in the field,” Hood said. “It’s hard to get anybody to come out and work on them anymore.”

Prevention is key. There is nearly always something being worked on in the shop. Because of his experience, Hood often joins in.

“I spent several years as an iron worker, so I get to weld,” he said. “That’s not a fun job. I’d rather be doing something else and let someone else weld.”

Hood, who just celebrated his 51st birthday, has been farming since he was 16. That means decades of trial and error.

“You just learn over the years by your mistakes,” he said.

“We’re just now cleaning out the last of our grain out of the bins for hauling our corn off. We have to spray those bins for bugs. They’ll destroy a bin in a hurry. If you stay on top of it, you won’t have a problem.”

After harvest, maintenance begins all over again.

“We have a 24-row corn planter,” Hood said.

“It’s greased, put away and ready to go. I don’t like to put something up that needs to be worked on. Sure as the world, you’ll pull it out next spring and a mouse will have chewed up a wire or something. It will break down sitting there in the building.”

Nat Williams writes for Illinois Farmer Today, a Lee Enterprises sister publication of The Southern Illinoisan.

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Taiwan machinery exports down 10 percent

Taiwan’s large plastics and rubber machinery industry has seen exports drop by more than 10 percent since the beginning of 2015, as the slowdown in mainland China has taken a significant toll on the sector.
While China’s difficulties were acting as a drag, it wasn’t all bad news — Taiwan’s industry reported a significant increase in plastics machinery exports to the United States, which officials attributed to strength in manufacturing there.
At an Aug. 12 news conference on the opening day of the Taipei Plas show, industry officials released statistics that point to struggles for Taiwan’s industry.
Plastics and rubber machinery exports for 2015 fell more than 10 percent, to $1.12 billion, and that trend continued through the first half of this year, with exports down a further 11 percent from what was already a tough 2015.
But there is some early evidence that things are turning around.
Alan Wang, chairman of the plastics and rubber machinery committee of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, said that based on recent orders, officials believe the second half of the year will bring the industry back to growth.
Beyond the drop in exports to mainland China, Wang said the industry has been hurt by problems in the electronics and computer manufacturing industries, which are significant customers for Taiwan’s plastics industry.
Exports to China, which is Taiwan’s largest market, plummeted 37 percent in 2015, to $222 million. That almost single-handedly accounted for Taiwan’s global drop last year.
Executives said Taiwanese manufacturers have been trying to diversify into other markets, including Southeast Asia. Vietnam is Taiwan’s second-largest plastics machinery export market, and shipments there rose 14 percent in 2015, to $122 million.
Larry Wei, chairman of Taiwanese blow molding equipment maker Fong Kee International Machinery Co. Ltd., saw a silver lining in increased exports to the United States, which was Taiwan’s third-largest market.
“This not only suggests the U.S. economy was on the mend, but indicates Taiwan’s plastics and rubber machinery had improved in terms of quality and functionality,” Wei said at the news conference.
Exports to the U.S. jumped 67 percent last year, to $83.5 million.
For other key markets, however, sales dropped. Exports to Taiwan’s fourth and fifth largest export markets, Indonesia and Thailand, each dropped more than 8 percent.
“Over the last two years, the global manufacturing business has suffered greatly from the economic downturn,” said Michael Wang, a vice chairman of TAMI’s plastics and rubber committee.
“The currency market has also become very volatile,” said Wang, who is also an executive in the Taiwan factory of Hong Kong-based machine maker Chen Hsong. “All of these have had a significant impact on Taiwan’s plastics and rubber machinery industry.”
According to TAMI statistics, Taiwan, which has a population roughly the same as Texas, is the sixth largest exporter of plastics and rubber machinery worldwide, behind Germany, China, Italy, Japan and the United States.
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Italian textile machinery manufacturers to exhibit at Irantex

Italian companies will exhibit their latest textile machinery at the Italian Pavilion at the forthcoming 2016 edition of Irantex 25 trade show, to be held in Tehran from 3-6 September, aiming to further enhance the relationship between the local textile industry and the Italian textile machinery sector.
The upcoming Irantex will feature the usual significant contingent of Italian textile machinery manufacturers, with 25 Italian companies exhibiting in the Italian Pavilion, the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT.
Italian textile machinery exports to Iran. ? ACIMIT
The members of the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers exhibiting at the Italian Pavilion will include: Beta Machinery, Bianco, Bonino, Caipo, Cogne, Carù, Durst, Fadis, Ferraro, Fk Group, Itema, Jk Group-J Teck 3, Laip, Marzoli, Ramallumin, Rf Systems, Santex Group, Smit, Srs, Ssm Giudici, Stalam, Tessilgomma, and Zonco.
Export market
The international sanctions of the past years delayed the modernization process necessary for the Iranian industry to continue to be competitive within a global context, the association reports.
In 2004, Iran was ranked among the top ten markets for Italian exports in the sector. After years of stagnation, Italian sales to Iran registered a recovery. In 2016 first quarter the Italian sales to Iranian market totalled a value of EUR 2 million, while 2015 sales were worth EUR 8 million. Iranian demand is spread out over all types of production, but Italian finishing and spinning machines are the primary exports.
ACIMIT represents an industrial sector comprising around 300 manufacturers and producing machinery for an overall value of about EUR 2.6 billion, with exports amounting to 86% of total sales.
Italian textile machinery Roadshow
“The Italian textile machinery Roadshow, held in Iran last 22 to 30 May, confirmed the clear concordance between Iran’s textile manufacturers and Italy’s textile machinery manufacturers was concluded with excellent results,” explained Raffaella Carabelli, President of ACIMIT.
The 27 Italian companies participating in the Roadshow took part in a series of technological workshops held in Tehran, Yazd, Isfahan and Mashad, in meetings with textile authorities and visits to local companies.
“The Roadshow was concluded with excellent results. Participating companies were able to ascertain the local textile industry’s desire to resume investments, especially in Italian technology,” concluded Raffaella Carabelli.
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Import of textile machinery up 5.48 percent

Import of textile machinery recorded an increase of 5.48 percent to $263.491 million in July-January 2015-16, official figures show. The rise in import of textile machinery import comes to $13.692 million in July-January 2015-16 from $249.799 million in July-January 2014-15, Pakistan Bureau of Statics says. In January 2016, import of textile machinery scaled down by 17 percent or $6.417 million to $31.563 million from $37.980 million in January 2015.

Import of construction machinery grew by 13 percent or $21.651 million to $189.189 million in July-January 2015-16 from $167.538 million in July-January 2014-15. In January 2015, import of construction machinery declined by 25.11 percent or $8.785 million to $26.221 million from $35.006 million in January 2015.
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February machinery orders down 9.2% on weak manufacturing sector

The nation’s core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 9.2 percent in February on a plunge for manufacturers, a reversal from the previous month that saw large orders from the steel industry, the government said Monday.

The orders, widely regarded as a leading indicator of future capital spending, totaled ¥848.7 billion ($7.9 billion), excluding those for ships and from utilities due to their volatility.

The Cabinet Office left its basic assessment unchanged, saying machinery orders are showing “signs of picking up.”

The orders dropped for the first time in three months following a 15.0 percent jump in January and 1.0 rise in December, with an official of the office telling a press briefing that they remain solid.

Still, analysts say the yen’s recent gains and growth concerns about overseas economies could make companies cautious about future capital spending as a stronger yen could slow exports and hurt business sentiment.

Orders from the manufacturing sector marked significant volatility, diving a record 30.6 percent to ¥321.0 billion in the reporting month after a 41.2 percent surge in January.

Steel makers led the decline with a 92.7 percent fall. The industry had marked more than a tenfold increase the previous month. The electric machinery sector also posted a slide, cutting orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and other machines.

Orders from the nonmanufacturing industry gained 10.2 percent to ¥531.0 billion for the third straight monthly increase.

The figures are closely watched as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sees business investment — which accounts for around 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product — as a pillar of economic growth.

The Bank of Japan adopted a negative interest rate policy earlier this year, an unprecedented move to encourage bank lending and help spur corporate spending.

Miyuki Kiso, market economist at Mizuho Securities Co., said machinery orders still lack vigor as companies are unsure about the outlook with a strong yen potentially weighing on sentiment.

“The BOJ’s negative interest rate policy should work as a plus (for capital expenditure) . . . but it’s difficult for companies to make big investments when domestic demand is weak,” Kiso said.

Total orders, including those from the domestic public sector and abroad, rose 9.0 percent to ¥2.24 trillion.

Overseas demand for Japanese machinery, an indicator of future exports, gained 6.3 percent to ¥726.7 billion.

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Plastics Machinery Business Finishes Strong in 2015

the Plastics Industry Trade Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES) reported that shipments of primary plastics equipment, including injection molding, extrusion, and blow molding equipment for reporting companies totaled $390.6 million in the fourth quarter, 29% higher than the previous quarter ($302.0 million) and 13% higher than year-prior quarter ($346.1 million).
For the year, reporting companies shipped a total value of primary equipment shipments of $1.29 billion; up 4.8% when compared with 2014.
Numbers breakdown by segment:
Injection molding machinery: Shipments value rose 18.2% in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to year-prior figures. For the full year, shipments were up 6.4% over 2014.
Extruders: The value of single-screw extruder shipments jumped 16.9% in the final quarter of 2015 compared to year-prior figures. For the year, shipments were 10.1% above 2014.Twin-screw extruders shipment values rose 13.2% year over year. For 2015, twin-screw extruder shipments decreased 5.3%.
Blow molding machines: The shipments value was down 52.9%, year over year. For 2015 as a whole, shipments were off 27.5%.
Auxiliary equipment: New bookings totaled $126.7 million dollars in the final quarter of 2015, jumping 22.4% over year-prior figures. For all of 2015, auxiliary equipment bookings were up 13.2%.
Continued Growth Forecast in 2016
U.S. plastics processors will spend $3.4 billion on new primary plastics processing and auxiliary equipment in 2016, according to Plastics Technology’s 2016 Capital Spending Forecast (read more here). That would reflect an increase of 1.5% over 2015, and extend to seven the streak of consecutive years of growth for the sector.
That projection is based on two separate research projects by Gardner Business Media, parent of Plastics Technology: an exclusive capital-equipment spending survey and an analysis of the latest trends in plastics-processing capital-equipment production, imports/exports, and their leading indicators.
Of the major equipment sectors, Plastics Technology’s survey only pointed to a decrease in spending on injection molding machines (down 3.1%), with increases forecast for auxiliary equipment (5.0%), extrusion (5.7%), blow molding (1.7%), and thermoforming (8.6%).
The Germany Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association (VDMA) reported a 5% increase in sales in 2015 and forecast continued growth in 2016, with the expectation that sales would top 7 billion euro for the first time ever.
Machinery Suppliers Optimistic
Overall expectations have slipped for 2016, according to a quarterly survey of plastics machinery suppliers conducted by the CES, but suppliers remain mostly optimistic about the market demand for their products in the coming months.
Fully 83% of respondents expect market conditions to hold steady or get better during the next 12 months, according to the fourth quarter survey. The machinery suppliers felt North America and Mexico would be the regions where the most promising market conditions could be expected in the coming year. Expectations for Latin America and Asia had slipped in recent quarters, while the outlook for Europe was mostly unchanged throughout 2015.
As for the major end-markets, survey respondents expected appliances and medical to experience the strongest growth demand for plastics products and equipment this year. Expectations for all other end-markets call for steady-to-better demand to prevail in 2016.

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North American machinery shipments up in 2015

North American shipments of primary plastics china machinery increased to a value $1.29 billion in 2015, 4.8 percent over the 2014 level, according to the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.

For 2015, the annual shipments of plastics machinery increased for the sixth straight year, according to SPI’s Committee on Equipment Statistics. But economist Bill Wood said the strong sales rebound after the Great Recession is slowing down. The fourth quarter was strong for injection molding machines and single-screw and twin-screw extruders — a spike that helped the machinery industry enjoy a year of growth, SPI said.

“Market conditions should remain strong in 2016, but the pace of growth in the shipments data is expected to decelerate after six years of strong expansion,” Wood said.

Machinery executives say North American injection press shipments topped 4,000 machines in 2015. Washington-based SPI does not release unit data, only including dollar-value numbers in its public year-end report issued April 5.

Wood said some big-picture economic forces hit the U.S. plastics machinery sector.

“The U.S. machinery data were strongly affected by the drop in investment from the energy sector and the strong value of the dollar in 2015,” said Wood, who runs Mountaintop Economics & Research Inc. in Greenfield, Mass. “These headwinds will persist in 2016, but they will not affect the plastics machinery sector as strongly as some other sectors of the machinery industry.”

Wood said the U.S. economy will continue to recover through 2016.
“Consumer demand for plastics products will steadily rise,” Wood said. “The three main factors that will continue to drive the economy over the coming months are: Low interest rates, low energy prices and rising wages and household incomes resulting from stronger employment levels.”

SPI reports that the shipment value of injection molding presses jumped 18.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to the year-ago final period. For all of 2015, shipments of injection presses were up 6.4 percent over the 2014 total.

Single-screw extruders increased 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter vs. the year-ago fourth quarter. For all of 2015, single-screw extruders were up 10.1 percent from the 2014 level.

Shipments of twin-screw extruders — including both co-rotating and counter-rotating machines — gained 13.2 percent in the fourth quarter over the fourth quarter of 2014. But for the year as a whole, shipments of twin-screw machines fell by 5.3 percent.

SPI reports shipments of blow molding machines fell by double-digits for both the full year and fourth-quarter measurements. Fourth quarter vs. fourth quarter, the decline was 52.9 percent. Year to year, blow molding machinery fell 27.5 percent, measured in shipment value.
Auxiliary equipment from manufacturers that reported totaled $126.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 — a jump of 22.4 percent from the total in the 2014 fourth quarter. For all of 2015, auxiliary equipment bookings increased 13.2 percent over 2014.

The Committee on Equipment Statistics also conducts a quarterly survey of plastics machinery suppliers that asks about present market conditions and expectations for the future. The survey indicates that expectations have slipped for 2016 but suppliers remain mostly optimistic about machinery demand in the coming months.

The fourth-quarter survey said that “83 percent of respondents expect market conditions to hold steady or get better during the next 12 months,” SPI said.

The United States and Mexico are the regions that machinery executives believe will be “most promising market conditions” for equipment sales in the coming year. And what are the strongest end markets? Appliance and medical, the survey said. All other end markets should see steady-to-better demand in 2016.

For 2015, total industrial machinery orders — every type of equipment — declined by 5 percent, according to the Census Bureau.

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China's New Economy Is Hitting Asia's Exports

The South Korean city of Ulsan, perched on the peninsula’s southeastern tip, has long been a proxy for the health of the nation’s export-driven economy.
Home to the world’s biggest auto-manufacturing plant, a major shipyard and a large oil refinery, Ulsan has been a key engine of one of Asia’s postwar growth stories.
Now, the city is being held up as an example of something much less favorable -- how a deepening export slump is crimping South Korea’s $1.2 trillion economy. With China as its biggest trading partner, Korea’s export crunch is sending a warning shot to the world about the risks of slower growth in its neighbor’s economy.
Shipments from Ulsan in 2015 sank to $75.6 billion, the lowest level since 2010. The city’s chamber of commerce responded by freezing some of their employees’ salaries for a second year to “share the pain” being felt at its member companies across sectors including shipbuilding, auto manufacturing and petrochemicals.
Take Korean cars: Shipments fell 21.5 percent in January from a year earlier, an even sharper decline than the month’s 18.8 percent drop in total exports.
“With the big three sectors of Ulsan all in a slump, subcontractors to some of the big companies closed their businesses,” said Choi Jin Hyeok, research team leader at the Ulsan Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “I’m afraid headwinds may continue this year. Slower growth in China is the biggest risk as the main market for all those industries is China.”
The export malaise isn’t unique to South Korea. Across Asia, shipments are tumbling -- in some cases at double-digit rates. In January Japanese overseas sales fell 12.9 percent from a year earlier and China’s dropped 11.2 percent.

While some of this can be attributed to falling prices for commodities and energy, much of the decline is pinned on China’s economy, which last year grew at the slowest pace in a quarter century. As about 68 percent of South Korea’s shipments to China are of intermediary goods, a downturn in the Chinese economy squeezes demand for Korean exports.
Because China is exporting less of the goods it makes, the world’s biggest trading nation is also buying less of the materials needed for its supply chain. Part of the problem is structural: China wants to shift its growth model from one centered on manufacturing to more of a focus on services and consumption.
Others Importing Less
Korea isn’t affected only by China’s slower growth. Other big customers like the U.S. and Europe are importing less, too.
“Developed markets such as the E.U. and the U.S. are gradually grinding higher in terms of growth but they are not as responsive to imports due to changing consumption patterns in goods,” said Trinh Nguyen, an economist at Natixis Asia Ltd.
The outlook for exports in Korea isn’t expected to improve much in the short run, owing to several factors.
“Korean exporters are coming under pressure from softer global demand and rising competition in China, and this was likely exacerbated this month by the lunar new year holiday period,” Emily Dabbs, a Sydney-based economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in an e-mail. “Low global commodity prices have also kept a lid on the import bill, with softer domestic demand likely adding to the decline this month.”
Creeping trade barriers also are posing obstacles. Simon Evenett, a professor focusing on international trade at the University of St. Gallen, estimates 476 trade distortions were introduced by governments last year.
Still, even as exports have slumped in Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy posted 2.6 percent growth in 2015. The government and the Bank of Korea both forecast that the country’s economy will expand at least 3 percent this year.
Taimur Baig, chief economist for Asia at Deutsche Bank AG, describes the situation as trade stagnation.
‘Waning Domestic Demand’
“Asian economies are navigating through 2016 much the same way they did in 2015, facing waning domestic demand, exports, and credit momentum, under-pressure asset markets, and continued drag from high household and corporate leverage,” he said.
The export picture isn’t entirely gloomy. The world economy, while slowing, isn’t at a crisis point. Unemployment in the U.S., the world’s biggest-consuming nation, is low. The outlook for Asian manufacturers remains upbeat with PMI export orders for Japan and South Korea expanding, according to analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence.
There are a few bright spots in Asia: Singapore’s economy grew more than estimated last quarter as a gain in services outweighed weaker manufacturing and exports. Fast-growing Vietnam continues to avoid the regional trend.
And some economists say things may bounce back soon. Prospects that China’s economy will recover coupled with rising wages and loose monetary and fiscal policy in Asia likely will stoke domestic demand around the region. Expectations are growing that central banks in China, India, Thailand and elsewhere may lower interest rates this year.
“As far as exports are concerned, there are good reasons to think that Asia is past the worst, and that growth will soon start to pick up,” said Daniel Martin, a senior Asia economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in Singapore.

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Global Textile Machinery Market 2015-2019

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fpnmfb/global_textile) has announced the addition of the "Global Textile Machinery Market 2015-2019" report to their offering.

The global textile machinery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35% over the period 2015-2019.

The textile and apparel industry plays a significant role in determining the strength of an economy. The value chain of this industry includes primary activities, such as designing, procurement, production, logistics, marketing, and after-sales services. Textile machinery refers to a wide range of equipment used in different stages of manufacturing.

The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market in Asia and Europe; it also covers the landscape of the global textile machinery market and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion on the key vendors operating in this market.

According to the report, with the rise in the number of vehicles manufactured, demand for fabric required for designing the interiors of vehicles is also likely to increase. The automotive industry manufactured 89.75 million vehicles in 2014 and this number is expected to reach 118.15 million in 2019, thereby boosting the growth of the textile machinery market in the process.
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More than just monetary policy needed to lift Japan machinery stocks

Shares of machinery builders and others that benefit from corporate capital spending are weak these days despite the introduction of subzero interest rates, suggesting that Japan needs economic stimulus that is separate from monetary policy.

     The Tokyo Stock Exchange's Topix index for the China machinery industry was the biggest decliner among the 33 subindexes Wednesday, sagging over 1%. Air cylinder manufacturer SMC slipped 3%, while the two machine tool giants -- Makino Milling Machine and Fanuc -- also lost ground. The machinery index is down 12% this year.

     "We just don't see anyone making capital investments," a Bank of Japan official told Yoshimitsu Goto, executive corporate officer for finance at SoftBank Group, during a routine hearing in December. The official seemed frustrated that businesses showed little interest in capital expenditures despite historically low rates, according to Goto.

     The Bank of Japan pushed interest rates into negative territory in February in hopes of encouraging businesses to invest. But the scheme is barely working.

     Machine tool orders logged year-on-year declines in each of the seven months through February, according to a trade group. Concerns that orders will continue decreasing amid slowdowns in emerging economies are keeping machine tool builders' stocks soft.

     "The potential growth rate has fallen globally, and the manufacturing industries in the U.S. and China are hurting," said Nobuyasu Atago, chief economist at Okasan Securities. "Lowering rates is not enough to paint a rosy picture."

     Business leaders agree on the limits of monetary policy. "Rates are already low, and companies that need to make investments have been doing so already," Tetsuya Fukunaga, director at information technology company SCSK, pointed out. The subzero rate policy has actually hurt business sentiment, he said, by strengthening the view that deflation is tough to shake.

     To stimulate domestic demand and capital spending, some investors call for economy-boosting measures under a supplementary budget and postponement of the additional consumption tax hike.

     Others have a different view. "Rather than short-term economic stimulus steps, we want measures to address the declining birthrate and other structural issues," said Yasunori Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities.

     In the initial stage of the Abenomics-fueled market rally that began in the fall of 2012, overseas investors jumped on Japanese stocks on hopes for the so-called "third arrow" of the government's growth strategy -- structural reform. In any case, monetary policy on its own is insufficient.
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German machinery exports to China drop 19 percent

Difficulties in China’s market pushed exports of German plastics and rubber machinery down 19 percent in 2015, to 653 million euros ($713.4 million).

The German machinery association VDMA released the figures ahead of Chinaplas, which is scheduled for April 25-28 in Shanghai. The data shows that German exports of plastics and rubber machinery fell roughly to the same level in euros as where they were at in 2012, after a huge increase in 2013 and a smaller drop of 5.5 percent in 2014.

The association did not comment on why exports dropped, but the numbers mirror reports from Chinese plastics equipment manufacturers.

Haitian International Holdings Ltd., China’s largest injection molding machine maker, said its domestic sales dropped last year, although more modestly than German figures, falling 4 percent to 4.86 billion Chinese yuan ($748.7 million).

Haitian said some of its domestic peers reported “more than [a] double-digit drop in sales figures in 2015,” and noted that the Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers index has been in contraction since March 2015.

Still, China Machinery remains a large market. In 2014, Germany was the largest exporter of plastics equipment to China, accounting for 32.9 percent of all imported machines in China. The second-largest exporter, Japan, in 2014 sent 445 million euros ($540.8 million) of imported equipment to China.

Taiwan and South Korea were the third and fourth largest sources of plastics and rubber machinery imports in China in 2014, respectively, VDMA said. 2015 figure are not yet available.

Last Land Rover Defender rolls off production lines in UK

The last Land Rover production lines, the famed 4x4 off-road vehicle that has been made for almost seven decades, has rolled off the production line in Britain.
More than two million of the boxy vehicles have been produced at the plant over the past 68 years, and fans range from farmers to Queen Elizabeth II, who has been photographed driving them over the decades.
Dozens of workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plant near Birmingham in central England cheered Friday as the last one was presented with its lights flashing and horn blaring.
Jaguar Land Rover did not say why the model is being discontinued. Jim Holder, editorial director of motoring magazines including Autocar, said it could be because the model can no longer keep up with emission and safety regulations.
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Italian textile machinery reports growth in foreign markets

The orders index for Italian textile china machinery companies in foreign markets grew during the fourth quarter of 2015, whilst on the domestic front the positive orders trend is hit by a setback over the past six months, ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, reports.
“I believe it’s important to have closed out 2015 with an overall increase in the order intake. This is a positive result that may be further strengthened over the first half of 2016 if the numerous contacts confirmed at ITMA 2015 materialize,” said ACIMIT president Raffaella Carabelli.
“As for the domestic market, we weren’t expecting this sort of setback after two positive quarters. However, the year-end trade fair has confirmed the many signs of recovery, even for Italy, which now need to be verified in early 2016.”
Positive trend
Based on the survey conducted by ACIMIT, during October-December 2015 the order intake for machinery manufacturers increased by 2% compared to the same period of the previous year, mainly due to a boost in exports to foreign markets. The value of the index for October-December 2015 stood at 89.1 points (2010 basis = 100).
However, growth was observed in foreign markets only, where the index registered an absolute value of 99.3 points (+3%). In Italy, the index had an absolute value of just 46.5 points, an 11% drop over the same quarter for 2014, bucking the trend of the previous two quarters.
Meanwhile Italian export figures, updated to the first ten months of 2015, confirm the current positive trend in orders. “We witnessed a recovery in the Chinese market for the second half of 2015, and generally speaking, the Asian markets account for growth in our sales (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam),” said ACIMIT’s president.
Promotional initiatives
In 2016, with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and Italian Trade Agency, ACIMIT aims to further push its internationalization efforts.
Around 20 countries/markets will be touched by promotional initiatives favouring the penetration of Italy’s textile machinery sector. Among these are projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Iran, areas which, as ACIMIT points out, Italian businesses are approaching for the first time or after years of partial closure.
ACIMIT represents an industrial sector comprising around 300 companies and producing machinery for an overall value of about EUR 2.5 billion, with exports amounting to 84% of total sales. Italian textile technology is sold to around 130 countries worldwide.

Vietnam spends $9bn on Chinese machinery, equipment in 2015

The money the Southeast Asian country spent on Chinese machinery and equipment made up 18.2 percent of total imports of Chinese goods last year, the largest sector out of 45, the general department said.
In 2015, China continued to be the largest trading partner of Vietnam with the total value of imports amounting to over $49.5 billion, a 13.8 percent year-on-year rise.
The 2015 figures have made China the biggest exporter of machinery and equipment to Vietnam, a position the neighboring country has held for many years after surpassing Japan and South Korea, the customs department said.
The value of this group of Chinese goods accounted for 30 percent of total imports of machinery and equipment from Vietnam’s trading partners worldwide.
The import value of machinery and equipment in 2015 increased 23 percent compared with a year ago, a signal that business and production activities of Vietnamese enterprises began to accelerate.
The group of machinery-equipment was followed by telephone-components ($6.9 billion), computers-electronic products and fabrics (over $ 5.2 billion).
Moreover, Vietnam also spent more than $4 billion importing 9.6 million metric tons of iron and steel from China, accounting for over half the money Vietnam paid for imported iron and steel worldwide in 2015.
Regarding automobiles, Vietnam bought 26,742 Chinese vehicles, representing 25 percent of the total number of cars imported into the country last year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said.
If automotive parts and components were included, the money spent on finished vehicles and parts from China would reach $1.7 billion.

Chile expands trade in agricultural products with China

China has now become the main destination for Chilean farm products, with fruit, wine and salmon among the main items of Chilean agricultural exports to China, data from the Agriculture Ministry and other government agencies show.

The sustained growth of the Chinese economy has led to a constant need for foodstuffs. This demand has increased now as China is changing its economic model to favor domestic consumption.

In 2014, the commercial exchanges between the two sides topped 34 billion U.S. dollars. China is now the third-largest market for Chilean foodstuffs, after the U.S. and Japan.

The free-trade agreement between Chile and China, signed in 2005, has facilitated exports to China. Chileans sold foodstuffs with a value of 78.4 million U.S. dollars in 2003, and the number rocketed to 1.273 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.

Now, 11 percent of all Chilean fruit exports goes to China, along with 17 percent of processed foods, 4 percent of wine and 3 percent of salmon. China is now the third-largest market for Chilean fruit, the fifth for wine and the sixth for salmon.

A total of 646 Chilean companies were doing business with China in 2015, including 274 small and medium-sized enterprises, which employ a large portion of the Chilean work force.

The great challenge now is to diversify farm exports, so that fresh products can reach cities across China in good condition.

Furthermore, Chile is now looking to make heavy investments in the agricultural sector, often in cooperation with Chinese companies, in order to boost productivity.

The visit to Chile last year by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang helped to boost commercial links between the two countries.

Both countries are also seeking to boost food fairs and gastronomic tourism options to help Chilean exporters reach Chinese buyers.

Chile has also displayed a keen interest in attracting Chinese investments, especially after China Construction Bank opened its offices in the country.

Over 100 Chilean entrepreneurs visited Beijing and Shanghai for the Week of Chile in China on the occasion of 45 years of bilateral relations in 2015. The momentum of such exchanges is expected to continue in 2016.

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China's January foreign trade slumps, surplus widens

China's foreign trade slumped in January, with both exports and imports slowing at a faster-than-expected rate due to weak global demand, customs data showed on Monday.

Exports in yuan-denominated terms dropped 6.6 percent year on year to 1.14 trillion yuan (175 billion U.S. dollars), slowing from 2.3-percent growth last month, while imports declined 14.4 percent to 737.5 billion yuan, worsening from a 4-percent slump last month, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Total foreign trade value in January edged down 9.8 percent year on year to 1.88 trillion yuan.

The monthly foreign trade surplus widened 12.2 percent year on year to a record high of 406.2 billion yuan in January, up from 382 billion yuan a month earlier.

The fundamental factor behind Monday's disappointing figures has more to do with the overall lack of external demand rather than changes in exchange rates, said HSBC in a research note.

Falling commodity prices continued to weigh on import growth. Crude oil imports declined 4.6 percent year on year in volume while the average import price dived 36.4 percent.

Import volume of coal and steel, two sectors that have the most significant overcapacity problems, dropped 9.2 percent and 19.6 percent respectively.

The slump in trade growth mainly reflects weakening investment demand as recent holiday retail sales suggested strength in domestic consumption, said Nomura, a Japanese financial service firm. The slowing demand may come from weaker property investment and measures to reduce overcapacity.

Trade with China's three biggest trade partners, the European Union, the United States and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), all dropped around 10 percent, data showed.

Exports and imports by state-owned companies were among those badly hit, diving 15.7 and 25.7 percent year on year respectively, while private firms reported about 1 percent increase in both exports and imports.

In a brighter note, the leading index for China's exports stood at 31.7 in January, the first time it increased from the previous month since February 2015, signalling less export pressure in the second quarter of 2016, the GAC said.

In dollar-denominated terms, China's exports fell by 11.2 percent from one year earlier in January, worsening from December's 1.4 percent decline. The import decline also widened to 18.8 percent.

As a weak external picture is likely to persist, a package of policy stimulus directed at boosting domestic demand including more aggressive monetary and fiscal easing, will be more effective at stabilizing growth and expectations in the coming months, HSBC said.
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Faced by Chinese import, PSM incurs heavy losses

Pakistan’s largest industrial unit, the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), continues to ride heavily in the red, bleeding billions in one form or another.

While bail-outs have continued to inject some life into the sick unit, stiff competition in the form of Chinese steel has dented whatever hope it had of resurrecting.

Despite reducing its prices by 29% (excluding 17% general sales tax) since January 2015, the PSM has failed to compete with rampant import of Chinese steel that has grabbed a chunk of the market share.

Sindh has till January 21 to take or leave Pakistan Steel Mills

On average, Pakistan’s imports of hot-rolled coils (HRC) from China amounted to 150,000 to 175,000 tons per month since January 2015, which is more than three times the 50,000-ton monthly average in calendar year 2014.

In January last year, the government imposed 15% import duty on different steel products to protect the local industry. The list of products included billets, bars, and wire rods while 5% duty was also imposed on imported cold rolled coils (CRCs) and galvanised platted sheets. But the move did not help PSM because the list of products did not include HRC – the main product of PSM.

The imposition of 15% duty helped reduce Chinese imports in 2015m but the industry continues to demand more protection. It wants the government to slap at least 40% duty on imports.

On the other hand, the government imposed 12.5% duty on HRC products on March 19, 2015. PSM officials say the delay in imposing duty on HRC products helped importers in importing cheap Chinese steel in 2015. The competition forced PSM to reduce its prices of HRC products and hence it faced losses on its inventory.

China factor

Slow economic growth and low consumption of steel in China product a glut of steel which forced Chinese exporters to massively reduce prices of HRC products for international buyers in 2015.

Sindh looks for more time to decide on PSM acquisition

PSM is at standstill since mid last year because of the non-availability of required gas pressure to run its plants. Meanwhile, its semi-finished products of approximately Rs6 billion which include slabs, metallurgical coke and iron ore also stand idle.

The Sindh government on Monday asked for more time to decide whether the provincial government is going to acquire PSM or not. The federal government gave a deadline of January 21 to the provincial government to decide about the acquisition.

After facing various setbacks and opposition from the Sindh government in privatising PSM, the federal government in October 2015 said the provincial government should acquire the mill if it is against its privatisation.

The federal government is under pressure from the IMF as both the troublesome cases of privatisation – Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and PSM – are still unresolved mainly because of political differences.

The current management of PSM says that the mill is in a crisis because it can neither sell its finished nor semi-finished products. The ongoing gas supply and payment of dues problem between Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and PSM is still unresolved making the matter more complicated for PSM.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2016.

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