Japan's slowing economy worries steelmakers amid Covid-19 impact

摘要

Japan's slowing economy has steelmakers worried as the country's manufacturing sector sees more pressure from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. Latest data released by Japan's Cabinet Office on February 17 showed the country's gross domestic product shrank by an annualized 6.3% over the last quarter of 2019, its first fall in five quarters. Another fall in the first quarter of 2020 would push the country into a technical recession - two consecutive quarters of growth contraction - with its February purchasing managers' index expected to come in at 47.6, lower than 48.8 in January and its steepest fall since December 2012, the au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI showed.