Japan ‘tankan’ survey shows manufacturers upbeat on outlook – KIRO 7 News Seattle

According to a quarterly central bank survey, business sentiment among Japanese manufacturers has risen to its highest level in nearly three years.

The results of the “Tankan” poll by the Bank of Japan, published on Friday, showed that sentiment among the major manufacturers had risen from 14 to 18. This is the highest level since the end of 2018.

The value for non-manufacturers rose only slightly to 2 out of 1.

The tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies that say the terms and conditions are negative from those that respond positively.

The report comes as Japan ended the state of emergency in many areas, including Tokyo, on Friday after new coronavirus infections fell.

The world’s third largest economy was already in a doldrums before the pandemic, before the pandemic emerged in multiple waves that hampered business.

The survey found that a shortage of components such as computer chips is hindering recovery.

Manufacturers are running down their stocks and in response, in some cases, stopping production in some factories.

“Such low inventory levels were last seen during the bubble of the 1980s. The wholesalers’ inventories have fallen to an all-time low, “said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics in a report.

He noted that production capacity has declined slightly in the most recent survey and there is room for improvement.

A positive outcome of the failures is that some manufacturers are investing in factory equipment: large manufacturers are forecasting a 10% increase in investment, which was the strongest outlook since the same quarter of 2018.

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