As part of Sandvik Coromant Singapore focus month on Parting & Grooving, the company held an open house for its customers from August 10 – 12.

Seoul, South Korea: South Korea is running a trade deficit of automobiles with China for the first time due to Korean manufacturers’ increased production in China as well as the entry of Chinese low-cost players in South Korea.

Kyoto, Japan: Kyocera Corp has constructed a 23,000-sq m manufacturing plant in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China for industrial cutting tools.

Manila, Philippines: Growth in Asia and the Pacific’s developing economies for 2016 and 2017 will remain solid as firm performances from South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia help offset softness from the US economy, and near-term market shocks from the Brexit vote, said an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

Mumbai, India: Boeing has revised its earlier prediction, expecting Indian airlines to order 1,850 new aircraft worth US$265 billion over the next 20 years. The aircraft manufacturer had earlier estimated that India would require 1,740 planes valued at US$240 billion over 20 years. This new figure revision is an increase of six percent.

Shanghai, China: The IMF has revised its forecast of China’s 2016 GDP growth by 0.1 percent to 6.6 percent. The organisation cited the country’s recent policy support, including interest rate cuts, fiscal expansion and investment increases as reasons for the revision.

Jakarta, Indonesia: The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) has raised its target for Indonesia’s car exports (completely built up units, or CBU) to 220,000 vehicles in 2016.

This figure shows that the association is aiming to see a six percent year on year increase in car exports from the 207,691 units last year. Gaikindo chairman Jongkie Sugiarto said the global economy has started to stabilise and this should have a positive effect on Indonesia’s car shipments.

Despite the optimism, Indonesia’s car exports fell 17.9 percent year on year to 73,524 units in the January-May 2016 period. The previous year figure was 89,554 units. This weaker showing could be attributed to delay in exports of the new releases of the Toyota Fortuner and the Kijang Innova—both manufactured by Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia.

The biggest export destination for Indonesian cars is the Asean region. However, the country still lags behind Thailand and Malaysia for car exports. These neighbouring countries export more than 500,000 vehicles each annually.

Mr Sugiarto commented that Indonesia’s car export performance can improve if domestic manufacturers boost the production of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and sedans. Both vehicle types have a strong foreign demand. Currently, Indonesia mainly produces multiple-purpose vehicles (MPVs). The association chairman also noted that a government luxury goods tax cut on cars would also drive up exports. The country is looking to become the largest car manufacturer and exporter in Asean. The government has made moves in that direction, including investments in the manufacturing of car components and spares.

APMEN Sept 2016, News

Tokyo, Japan: Aluminium prices are likely to range between US$1,500 and US$1,700 per tonne for the latter half of this year as oversupply will cap further gains, said the Japan Aluminium Association.

Shanghai, China: In recent years, steel products exported by China increased rapidly. In 2015, China exported 112.4 million tonnes of steel products with an increase of 19.9 percent year-on-year.

New Delhi, India: Global steel prices are expected to fall in the second half of 2016, after an upward rally during the January to June period, on account of decline in demand in China, said BMI Research.