East Asia Today

Lots today: trade volumes and prices for July in China; underlying inflation trends in Japan; consumer confidence for August in Korea; and industrial production and retail sales in July in Taiwan.

Paul Cavey

Aug 25, 2026 • 3 min read

Subscribers Only

East Asia Today

Upstream prices in China have picked up again during August as global energy and copper prices rebounded. An unemployment rate below 3.5% in Taiwan in July shows that the labour market remains tight, in turn explaining why wage growth continues to trend up.

Subscribers Only

East Asia Today

Japan July CPI and August flash PMI point to rising inflation and a stronger cycle; Korea July PPI inflation softened, but exports in the first 20 days of August rose; Taiwan export orders in July also increased, with incremental drivers being servers and cooling products for AI devices.

Subscribers Only

East Asia Today

Summary of a recent outlook note on China; trade data in Japan that continues to be boosted by AI tech demand; a collapse in Korea's net foreign assets because of the rise in the Kospi that boosted the value of foreigners' domestic equity holdings; and another quarter of 20%+ CA surplus in Taiwan.