India slows, bit by bit
India’s economy is on the verge of slowdown, according to the latest industrial production data published on Wednesday. The industrial production index in Asia’s third largest economy increased by just...
View ArticleCemex: not all doom and gloom
Cemex’s third-quarter results, which the Mexican cement manufacturer reported on Wednesday, contain some positive data. Sure, the net losses of US$821.7m attracted much of the attention, which was...
View ArticleCranes in EMs: heavy lifting next year
Picture: Konecranes Plc When you’ve just been asked to build the world’s biggest gantry crane, and your order book is at it’s second fullest ever, it may seem odd that your share price has halved in a...
View ArticleUsiminas: minorities feel flat-rolled
Voting shares of Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais, Brazil’s largest flat steel producer, fell to their lowest in two years this week after Italian-Argentine rival, Technint, bought a stake in the...
View ArticleIndia: cementing the slowdown
Gloom threatens to engulf the Indian economy on a number of fronts – stagnating industrial production, slumping auto sales, slowing growth. But, more than any other sector, infrastructure would be the...
View ArticleIndia IP: maybe too good
After a dismal October, India’s industrial production swung back into positive territory, growing 5.9 per cent year-on-year in November, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office....
View ArticleGuest post: Sany-Putzmeister takeover – a sign of Mittelstand deals to come
By Hermann Simon of Simon-Kucher For many years, Putzmeister was one of my favorite ‘hidden champions’ – little-known German companies which are world famous in their industries. The concrete...
View ArticleIndian industry: don’t wait for a bounce
Indian industrial output growth braked sharply in December to 1.8 per cent, down from 5.9 per cent in November, according to data released Friday. But the lower than expected output is unlikely to...
View ArticlePolish industry still going strong
While the eurozone sputters into a recession, Poland’s economy continues to do well: industrial production numbers released today show an annual increase of 9 per cent in January. “Polish industry is...
View ArticleIndia’s inexplicable production jump
In a surprise bounce, India’s industrial output grew by 6.8 per cent in January compared with a year earlier – significantly higher than the 2 per cent most economists had predicted, according to data...
View ArticleIP brings relief for Korean economy
South Korea’s policy makers must be breathing sighs of relief thanks to signs that the economy has been perking up recently. Industrial production increased 14.4 per cent in February from a year...
View ArticleCorporate watch: Johnson Electric plugs into globalisation
Johnson Electric is far from being a household name. But the billion electric motors it produces each year are fitted into dozens of household products including food blenders, treadmills, cars and...
View ArticleCorporate watch: Mondi repackages itself for emerging markets
Mondi, the South African paper and packaging manufacturer, has changed a lot over the past half century. “In the 1960s, we were a newsprint company – that was all we made,” says David Hathorn, chief...
View ArticleIndia industry reluctant to spend
If any further evidence were needed that the Indian economy is struggling mightily, the Reserve Bank of India’s September bulletin provided it. On Wednesday, the RBI said Indian companies had...
View ArticleChina inflation: friend not foe
Does Chinese industry need more inflation? The question might seem absurd for a fast-growing developing economy but with consumer prices increasing at just two per cent, Gavekal Dragonomics, the China...
View ArticlePoland’s Hipolit Cegielski: back to the private sector, at last
Poland doesn’t have many storied companies dating back to the country’s early industrialisation but one of the few is Hipolit Cegielski, a Poznan company focussed on building ship engines, which is now...
View ArticleGuest post: how do we power Africa’s economic renaissance?
By Kandeh K Yumkella of UNIDO When I look at the future of my continent, three words come to mind: hope, opportunity and responsibility. Hope, because there is positive change happening throughout...
View ArticleS Korea IP: the effect of a weaker yen starts to show
The weaker yen is slowly hampering South Korea’s growth momentum, with the country’s industrial output falling 2.6 per cent in March from February. The latest data marked a fall for a third straight...
View ArticleReprieve for Bosnia’s Aluminij
Too big to fail? Aluminij, Bosnia’s aluminium smelter, its biggest exporter and one of its biggest industrial employers, has been given a last-minute reprieve by the regional government at a...
View ArticleS Korea: IP high, but corporate fears remain
South Korea’s industrial output hit a nine-month high, adding to investor confidence in the country’s recovery. But not everything is rosy about Asia’s fourth-largest economy amid growing concerns over...
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