Pakistan Among Top 3 Likely Beneficiaries of US-China Trade War

Nomura Securities strategists believe Malaysia, Japan and Pakistan are expected to be the top 3 beneficiaries of import substitution triggered by US-China trade war escalation. Nomura's analysis is based on detailed study of 7,705 items which will be subject to tariffs and counter tariffs by US and China if the stand-off continues. Nomura developed two indices as part of its research on the subject: NISI (Nomura Import Substitution Index) and NPRI (Nomura Production Relocation Index).

Source: Nomura Securities

The two economic rivals have announced a series of tit-for-tat tariffs on imports in recent months with US set to increase tariffs to 25% on a range of Chinese products in January, unless the two sides reach a trade deal.

Nomura research shows the US list affects 3,477 products imported by US from China valued at $270 billion. Product categories affected are in electrical equipment, appliances and components (29%), machinery and mechanical appliances (22.7%) and furniture and related products (11.9%). China’s tariff list covers 4,228 US products with a combined value of $110 billion, and consists of food, beverage and tobacco, and vehicles.

Malaysia will benefit most, in particular from its exports of “electronic integrated circuits, liquefied natural gas and communication apparatus”. “Vehicles with only spark-ignition internal combustion reciprocating piston engines” will help Japan, according to the analysis, while Pakistan’s cotton yarn exports could rise.

If the trade war between the world's top two economies continues for years, there will also be production relocation of industrial units from China to other countries in the region. The biggest likely beneficiaries of it will be Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and India. Pakistan is least likely to benefit from it.

New opportunities are likely to open up for several Asian nations, including Pakistan, to increase industrial production and grow exports if the US-China trade war escalates.

Will the US-China trade conflict escalate? Is Pakistan capable of seizing the opportunity to expand its exports? Will Pakistan's recurring balance of payments crises end?  Will Pakistan manage to avoid repeated IMF bailouts? Only time will tell.

Related Links:







Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's tech exports jumped from $75 million in Sept 2018 to $104 million in Oct 2018, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan

http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/ExportsImports-Goods.pdf

The export receipts from Pakistan stood at $355 million, during the first four months of the current financial year which started July. These receipts show a year-on-year increase in the IT-related exports standing at 5%. The exports value from the same period last year stood at $337 million. During the last year, the Pakistani IT exports had shown a growth of 13% during the whole financial year.

On a rather good note, the IT-related imports showed a decline as more reliance went towards indigenous produce of ICT-related services and products. The imports have decreased from $163m to $147 showing a decrease of 9.8%. It must be mentioned here that the facts presented in this report account for the trades with receipts and apart from this a lot of informal trade also happens between Pakistan and the rest of the world.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's tech exports jumped from $75 million in Sept 2018 to $104 million in Oct 2018, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan

http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/ExportsImports-Goods.pdf

Pakistan's information technology exports have bucked the nation's declining exports trend with double digit growth to reach $1,065 million in fiscal year 2018, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. It is generally believed that Pakistan's central bank underestimates technology exports. Some have argued that the actual IT exports were closer to $5 billion in fiscal 2018. Some of the differences can be attributed to the fact that the State Bank IT exports data does not include various non-IT sectors such as financial services, automobiles, and health care.

https://www.riazhaq.com/2018/08/state-bank-pakistan-it-exports-surge-to.html
Riaz Haq said…
As U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war against Beijing intensifies, American buyers are diversifying their supplier base away from China, the No. 1 exporter of these goods to the U.S. Already, Bangladesh is close to snatching the trousers-to-towel crown. Pakistan, at No. 6 last year, has grown its own shipments to the U.S. by almost 12% this year. It may overtake India, which has seen virtually no improvement.

The good news is that the Pakistani rupee has fallen by almost 20% since 2017. That’s virtually wiped out the currency’s overvaluation adjusted for inflation differences with trading partners, as estimated by the IMF. If the currency slides further and inflation doesn’t accelerate, Pakistani exports should receive a boost, provided global growth and cotton availability for the textile industry hold up.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-12/pakistan-flirts-with-crisis-as-imf-agrees-another-bailout
Riaz Haq said…
#China’s #Denim #Exports to US Slide, as Other Major Suppliers Gain Ground. Among the top 5 is #Pakistan, with its denim exports to US up 10.58% to $95.37 million. Pakistan’s market share is up 11.87% in the 12 months to 6.48%. https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-business/china-denim-imports-159137/ via @SourcingJournal

It’s likely that no matter what happens with the Trump administration’s threat to impose stiff punitive tariffs on Chinese apparel imports, damage has already been done.

Many importers have clearly taken the risk of 25 percent duties on Chinese goods and decided to sew them into their sourcing strategies, limiting their exposure to the once-dominant Chinese market, even with the imposition of those tariffs now on hold. Supply chain diversification is in full effect and the latest data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA) reflects it.

“People are diversifying their denim sourcing locations. Some people are getting out of China and some people are staying in China,” Robert Antoshak, managing director at Olah Inc., said. “There is definitely confusion in the marketplace.”

The swing in production is most evident among the top suppliers of blue denim apparel, 97 percent of which are jeans. Denim apparel imports from China dropped 5.16 percent in value to $287.49 million in the year through May, compared to the same period in 2018. This brought China’s market share for jeans imports down 1.77 percent to 23.35 percent for the year.

The next four top suppliers all gained ground on China in the 12-month period, according to OTEXA.

In the second place spot, Mexico, which has had its own round of tariff threats from the White House, though they seem to have subsided for now, saw its jeans imports increase 17.61 percent in the first five months of the year to reach $332.43 million in value. Mexico’s market share rose 11.55 percent to 21.98 percent for the year.

Denim apparel imports from third-place supplier, Bangladesh, were up 6.26 percent year to date to $183.42 million, as the country’s market share advanced 7.61 percent to 14.62 percent. Vietnam’s jeans shipments to the U.S. jumped 35 percent to $105.07 million in the first five months of the year, compared to the year-ago period. This lifted Vietnam’s market share 40.49 percent to 8.2 percent.

Rounding out the top five was Pakistan, with its shipments to the U.S. increasing 10.58 percent to $95.37 million. Pakistan’s market share was up 11.87 percent in the 12 months to 6.48 percent.

“There’s no doubt that the trade war between the U.S. and China has resulted in production being spread out across Asia and being a Pakistan manufacturer, we have benefited,” Ebru Ozaydin, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Artistic Milliners, said at last month’s Kingpins New York show.

The Western Hemisphere, led by Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala, continued to increase its denim production, too.

Imports from the region rose 14.83 percent year to date through May to $414.07 million. This gave the Western Hemisphere a 27.64 percent market share, with a 10.4 percent gain for the year.
Riaz Haq said…
TOKYO -- Having prepared for the prospect of additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Japanese corporations with factories in China are expected to move faster in shifting production out of the country now that Washington has decided to escalate the trade war.

The U.S. announced Thursday that a 10% duty on roughly $300 billion in Chinese goods will take effect on Sept. 1. President Donald Trump said the duty can be increased in stages and that tariffs "can be lifted to well beyond 25%."

This fourth round of tariffs would cover a broad range of products, including smartphones, game systems and clothing.

Nintendo, which currently assembles most of its Switch game systems in China, has begun moving production to Vietnam and intends to boost its output further in the Southeast Asian nation.

Sony's production of its PlayStation 4 game console, cameras and other products could be affected by the tariffs. The company has already been studying steps such as relocating production and hiking prices, so it will likely make decisions depending on the situation. At its earnings briefing at the end of last month, Senior Vice President Naomi Matsuoka said that she hopes to keep the operating profit impact of the fourth round of tariffs at less than 10 billion yen ($94 million) this fiscal year.

Sharp subsidiary Dynabook builds all of its notebook computers in China, but Sharp said it will consider moving production to its own facilities in Vietnam or to plants of Taiwanese parent Hon Hai Precision Industry -- commonly known as Foxconn -- if the fourth round of tariffs is implemented.

Kyocera assembles copiers and multifunction printers for the U.S. market in China, and Europe-bound products in Vietnam.

"We will switch production between Chinese and Vietnamese facilities," Kyocera President Hideo Tanimoto told reporters on Friday, after the U.S. announced the fourth round of tariffs, which cover copiers and multifunction printers. The move is expected to cost up to several billion yen.

Ricoh moved production of U.S.-bound multifunction printers to Thailand from China at the end of last month, and is looking at building those products for the Japanese and European markets in China instead of Thailand.

Asics' shoes will be subject to the latest tariffs. "The impact of the tariffs will be negligible," said President Yasuhito Hirota. "But I am concerned about slowdowns in the U.S. and Chinese economies."

The U.S.-China trade frictions have crimped corporations' appetite to invest. Panasonic's sales of motors, sensors and other devices used in production equipment have declined as clients hold off on capital investment. The company believes that investment may cool further due to the fourth round of tariffs.


https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Tra...eed-up-China-exit-in-response-to-more-tariffs

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistani Women's Growing Particpation in Workforce

Project Azm: Pakistan to Develop 5th Generation Fighter Plane

Pakistan's Saadia Zahidi Leads World Economic Forum's Gender Parity Effort