The Point for Japan

Research evidence excerpt

The Point for Japan

years of work, and this total includes 21 orders received by Japan Marine United

(which is now 60%-owned by Imabari and 20% by IHI). Imabari President Yukito

Higaki noted an increasing threat from Chinese shipbuilders, and while the

Japanese government wants to double commercial shipbuilding capacity by 2035

and is pushing for Japanese shipbuilders to re-enter the LNG carrier market, he

sees "cooperative relationships with South Korean shipbuilders as essential".

According to Clarksons, as of May 2026 the global orderbook by CGT showed

China at 64%, South Korea at 19%, and Japan at 6% (with Europe at 7%). However,

in Jan-Jun 2026, new ship export orders (CGT) were only up 4% YoY, even with the

weak yen (Figure 1).

Graeme McDonald

Japan Chemicals - Implications from results at 10 overseas companies

We believe an understanding of trends in downstream industries is important for

considering demand trends in the upstream chemicals industry. We provide an

overview by sector of nine overseas companies that have reported result through

July 24.

Yuta Nishiyama

Japan Electrical Equipment and Semiconductors - Feedback from our Asia

investor tour

The main points of discussion in our meetings with Hong Kong investors during

July 20-24 were the thinking on Kioxia Holdings, and the outlook for April-June

results. Regarding demand prospects in the memory and data center spaces, we

continued to hear some bullish views but the response to the positive news flow

during our tour was muted and we got the sense that investor sentiment is cooling

on AI- and data center-related names. We have Buy ratings on Hitachi and Casio

Computer as names with low AI-related exposure. Our preferred names for the

upcoming earnings season are Kioxia, Mitsubishi Electric, and Hitachi.