Japan’s new confirmed cases of new crowns break 10,000 for the first time on the 29th
Data on newly confirmed cases of new crowns announced in various parts of Japan showed that on July 29, there were 10,699 new confirmed cases nationwide, and the number of newly confirmed cases in a single day exceeded 10,000 for the first time, a record high.
In terms of regions, 3,865 cases in Tokyo, 3,177 over 28 days, a record high for 3 consecutive days, 1164 cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, 864 cases in Saitama Prefecture, 576 cases in Chiba Prefecture, 932 cases in Osaka Prefecture, and 392 cases in Okinawa Prefecture.
The number of new cases of new crowns in Japan on July 28 exceeded 9,000 for the first time in a single day, reaching 9,570. The Japanese government issued the fourth state of emergency to Tokyo on July 12.
In order to better prevent and control the new crown epidemic, the Japanese government has basically decided to include Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Osaka Prefecture as areas where the emergency declaration applies, and has notified the ruling party of the plan. The implementation period of the emergency declaration of the above-mentioned one province and three counties is tentatively scheduled for August 2 to 31.
In addition, the government also plans to simultaneously extend the deadline for the declaration of emergency in Tokyo and Okinawa to August 31.
British car production drops to its lowest level in June in nearly 70 years
As automakers were hit by shortages of employees and semiconductors, the number of cars produced in the UK last month fell to the lowest level in June in nearly 70 years.
According to the Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), British automakers produced more than 69,000 cars last month, which is the lowest level since June since 1953. However, this does not include the month of June 2020. Due to the first lockdown of the factory, production was slow to resume.
This new crown pandemic has caused a global shortage of semiconductor chips and has affected car production. This means that the number of cars manufactured in the UK this year may be 100,000 fewer than previously predicted.
In the first half of 2021, British automobile production was less than 500,000, totaling 498,923. Compared with the five-year average level from January to June, production fell by more than 38%.
According to data from SMMT, vehicle production in these six months was 311,000 less than the average and valued at more than £8.5 billion.
Due to the shortage of chips, the auto industry is expected to become the biggest loser this year. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that the operating profit of global automakers will decrease by US$20 billion in 2021.
In June, British automakers also faced a series of problems, including post-Brexit trade rules with Europe, the continued impact of the epidemic, and the consequent supply chain disruption.
Therefore, SMMT warned that the UK’s vehicle production in 2021 may be less than 1 million vehicles, which is far below the future production target of 1.2-1.3 million vehicles. At the same time, the agency said that British automakers are still in trouble, and supply uncertainty is expected to continue until 2022.
Samsung Electronics’ second-quarter profit increases sharply, and chip demand is expected to be strong in the second half of the year
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics predicted on the 29th that the demand for memory chips in the second half of the year will be strong and the mobile market will return to the level of 2019. This shows that the global economy hit by the new crown epidemic is getting back on track.
Supported by high chip prices and better-than-expected demand, Samsung Electronics’ operating profit surged 54% in the second quarter, setting its best performance in more than two years.
“In the second half of the year, market conditions are expected to benefit the device business,” Samsung said in a statement. “The demand for memory chips may be driven by the release of new smartphones, while broader 5G services will drive growth.”
The company said that the global shortage of non-memory chips still poses a risk to related predictions, and uncertainties related to the new crown epidemic and geopolitical tensions may persist.
Smartphone manufacturers are preparing to launch new products in the second half of the year, and the global shortage of semiconductors other than memory chips is becoming a key issue. Samsung pointed out that due to the increased adoption of 5G and continued demand for servers and personal computers, the fundamentals of the memory chip market are strong. Samsung pointed out that its chip inventory is “very low” because chip shipments in the second quarter exceeded previous expectations.
In addition, Samsung Electronics said that the company’s chip foundry business revenue set a record high in the second quarter. Samsung Electronics’ operating profit for the April-June quarter was 12.6 trillion won (10.95 billion U.S. dollars), its best performance since the third quarter of 2018.
Mobile business profits fell from the previous quarter due to limited supply of mobile processor chips and production interruptions related to the epidemic.
Japan’s staple rice production in 2021 will be less than 7 million tons for the first time
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan announced on the 29th that as of the end of June, the planting area of staple rice in 2021 decreased by 62,000 to 65,000 hectares from the previous year. If the harvest is the same as in previous years, with an output of 6.94 million to 6.96 million tons, rice as the staple food will be less than 7 million tons for the first time since 2008 with comparable data.
In order to adapt to the decrease in demand due to changes in dietary life and the decline in consumption of dining out due to the new crown epidemic, Japan has strengthened the conversion of rice for feed, etc., basically achieving the goal of avoiding excessive rice planting and production.
The Japanese government has cancelled the production adjustment policy (reduction: control the area of arable land) from 2018, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has called for planting other crops to avoid oversupply, and each production area has set general targets and plans for planting areas. After hearing the above intentions from the prefectures, the area to be reduced increased from 38 prefectures at the end of April to 41 prefectures. The overall planting area is expected to fall from 1.366 million hectares in 2020 to more than 1.3 million hectares.
On the other hand, it is predicted that the demand for rice in 2021 will decrease by 10,000 tons to 7.03 million tons compared with 2020 when the consumption of dining out is sluggish due to the new crown epidemic. Given that the current inventory is still large, even if the production of rice in 2021 has been controlled, the private inventory will reach 2.1 million tons at the end of June 2022, and there may be a surplus.
Picture of the day
Air taxi is not a dream!Test flight of German Airbus CityAirbus prototype
On July 28, 2021, local time, Bavaria, Germany, CityAirbus is an unmanned fan-driven urban air taxi prototype of Airbus. It weighs about 2.3 tons and returned to the ground after a test flight.
(This article is compiled from NHK, Lianhe Zaobao, The Guardian, Reuters, Kyodo News)
Compiled by Zhou Yuqing, an intern reporter of Economic Observation Network
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