Despite Tourism From China Slowing, New York Is Still On Pace For A Record 67 Million Visitors This Year

The headwinds that should be keeping tourists out of New York are pronounced, including an ongoing to trade war with China, the economy on the verge of recession in Europe and a relatively strong US dollar that weighs on the buying power of foreign visitors, according to the New York Times.

But despite these obvious reasons that international tourism should be slowing, just the opposite is happening in New York. In fact, New York City is seeing tourists in record numbers.

This summer, the city is on pace for its highest annual tally of tourists ever, expecting nearly 67 million of them. This would dwarf 2018’s number by about 2 million visitors and it would be the 10th consecutive year of rising tourism for the city.

Fred Dixon, the city’s tourism marketing agency chief executive, said: 

“We’re facing some headwinds economically and geopolitically, but we’re still on track for growth in 2019.”

And the record numbers come even though the growth of tourism from China has slowed significantly since President Trump started slapping tariffs on Chinese imports. China still remains the number two source of foreign visitors to the city, but has devalued its currency significantly, further driving up the cost of purchases for international tourists.

The trend is being seen at places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which says that there has been a decline in groups arriving from China. Of more than 7 million visitors to the Met over the last year, 28% came from outside the country, which is down from 34% the previous year.

It is expected that 1.16 million visitors from China will arrive this year, which is still an increase of about 50,000 over 2018. And despite turmoil over Brexit and the relative weakness of the British pound, New York is still anticipated to see a similar increase in visitors from the UK, which is the city’s number one source of foreign tourists. Those two increases will mostly offset the drop in visitors from places like South American countries, where economies in countries like Argentina are in turmoil.

Tourism in New York has also been helped along by large events, including the WorldPride pride celebration. The reopening of the Museum of Modern Art in October will also help draw visitors. However, in 2020, the Summer Olympic games will be held in Tokyo and political conventions in the United States are set for Milwaukee and Charlotte.

Regardless, Mr. Dixon believes that there will still be a modest rise visitors again next year, as long as the global economy stabilizes: “The big trend in travel today is experiential and people know that they can come and New York offers a wide swath of experiences, whether they lean toward the culinary, cultural, fashion or shopping.”

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Dramatic Video Captures Epic Firefight On The Streets Of Baltimore City

A hail of bullets transformed one Baltimore neighborhood into an utter warzone Wednesday night. There was so much gunfire at one point that not even a single rat was spotted on the streets of East Baltimore City.

Baltimore City Police said in a statement that one suspect is dead, and an officer was injured, following a police-involved shooting late Wednesday night. 

Police identified the suspect as Tyrone Domingo Banks, 30, of Baltimore. Police believe Banks was responsible for another police-involved shooting and high-speed pursuit Tuesday night. 

The 11 News I-Team pulled criminal records on Banks’ violent past, including several cases in 2010 where he was accused of assault on a law enforcement officer. Another case in the same year showed he had severe mental health issues that enabled him to claim he was not “not criminally responsible” for the 2010 assault. 

A friend of Banks told I-Team reporters that he wasn’t targeting police, saying he had schizophrenia and refused to take his medication. The friend went on to say Banks wanted suicide by police. 

The friend also said Banks was in and out of Spring Grove Hospital because he wasn’t a stable person. The friend also said Banks always heard voices in his head. 

The friend said Banks was crazy and thought suicide by police with an epic shootout would be the best way to end his life. 

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Banks was spotted around 11 pm Wednesday in a silver car in East Baltimore. All police officers in the area were dispatched to Banks’ location. 

“We spotted a vehicle believed to the be same vehicle, driven by the same person, who tried to hit one of our officers last night, and then shot at another officer last night,” Harrison said. “The person we encountered tonight, we believe, is in fact the person who was driving the vehicle, who was using the same vehicle last night that we encountered tonight.”

Harrison said at least ten officers were involved in the shooting. He wasn’t sure how many officers fired their weapons. 

Judging by the video below, dozens of shots can be heard between police and Banks — still not clear on who fired what. During the firefight, Harrison said one officer was shot in the leg. Police cars and surrounding buildings were riddled with bullets after the gunfire subsided. 

Harrison said the suspect was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died of his injuries. 

None of this should surprise Zerohedge readers, as we have kept our audience well informed about Baltimore’s implosion for years.  

Homicides in Baltimore are expected to reach 300 by the end of the year, could be the fifth consecutive year of murders over 300. 

On a per-capita basis, Baltimore’s homicide rate is the highest in the country and is on par with a war zone. 

There’s not much anyone can do to fix Baltimore in short to medium term. Yes, possibly, a bunch of Trump supporters can pick up trash in desolated neighborhoods, but that’s only a cosmetic fix. 

The problem with Baltimore is structural. The city’s population has crashed to 100-year lows; it’s been deindustrialized, ran by Democrats for decades, and has the worst wealth inequality in the country. 

Baltimore will continue to implode through the early/mid-2020s. 

There’s no meaningful policy in place to turn Baltimore around in the next decade. So in the meantime, if you value your life, stay away from Baltimore.   

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US Military Secretly Hacked Iran’s Paramilitary Force In June Cyberstrike

Hours after Iran shot down a US surveillance drone, American military hackers launched a cyberattack against a database used by the Islamic Republic to target oil tankers and shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf, according to the Washington Post, citing US officials. 

The strike was President Trump’s alternative to a recommended military airstrike, the Iranian deaths from which which would not be “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

Iran claims the drone flew into its airspace, while the US claims it was in international airspace. 

US Cyber Command did not address the operation, telling the Post “As a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence, or planning.” 

According to the report, the cyberstrike had been in the works for weeks, “if not months,” after Iran’s suspected attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman in early June. 

Officials also told the Post that the cyber response shows how the Pentagon is “expanding its repertoire of options to integrate cyber into military plan,” and how Cybercom – which coordinated the strike with US Central Command, ” is able to support regional commanders to achieve strategic aims — in this case to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.”

The drone downing and retaliatory computer attack reflect how increasingly hostilities are playing out below the threshold of use of force, in what is often called the “gray zone.”

The cyberstrike was designed to be debilitating — Iran is still trying to restore data — but proportionate and not so provocative as to result in escalation, officials said. –Washington Post

“When you’re in this realm there’s always the chance for miscalculation,” said one US official, adding “there were concerns generally about Iranian responses,” particularly against US or Israeli interests. 

And as the Post notes, the cyberattack “represents a flexing of offensive muscle by Cyber Command, led by Gen. Paul Nakasone.” Cyber Command was elevated to a full combatant command in May 2018.

“To the extent that Iran is conducting unlawful operations, I think [the cyberstrike] was an appropriate measure to take to preclude their ability to conduct further unlawful operations,” said international law professor at the US Naval War College, Michael Schmitt. “Sometimes cyberspace allows you to take operations that are not as escalatory as other options on the table. And this would strike me as one such operation.”

The last time the US (almost certainly) hacked Iran was in 2010, when the Stuxnet virus (suspected to have been created by Israel and the United States) was inserted into Iranian computer systems governing their nuclear centrifuges, causing them to wobble and tear themselves apart. The virus reportedly ruined nearly 20% of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. 

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Platinum Prices Jump On China Stimulus Hopes; Seen As Catch-Up Trade To Gold & Silver 

China is expected to dramatically ease restrictions on automobile purchases to help boost domestic consumption.

This includes new measures that will relax or lift restrictions and support the purchase of new cars, according to a new guideline that outlined 20 steps to spur economic growth issued by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

The State Council said in a statement that local governments across 23 provinces should consider relaxing or removing restrictions on vehicle purchases and encourage purchases of new energy vehicles.

As a result, global auto stocks have stabilized this week on the news that Beijing is expected to loosen restrictions.

More importantly, platinum is up 10% in 68 trading hours on hopes China’s domestic automobile industry can be revived.

Platinum is used in making catalytic converters, which all modern automobiles are equipped with these devices that reduce emissions of harmful compounds found in car exhaust, including Carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas) and Nitrogen oxides (a cause of smog and acid rain).

On average, 3 to 7 grams of platinum is used in making a standard catalytic converter, but the amount varies on manufacturer and model.

Platinum has tumbled 60% in 46 quarters thanks to weaker demand and excess supply, whereas gold and silver have been accumulated in droves as per a hedge against a dovish Federal Reserve.

Trading at 2008 lows, platinum has been trying to base in the 1,000 to 750 level for 43 months.

Among the contributing factors mentioned above of why platinum prices are rising, it could be soon considered a catch-up trade to gold and silver, which have exploded over the course of this year thanks to dovish tilts by global central banks, an escalating trade war between the US and China, and macroeconomic risks pertaining to a worldwide synchronized slowdown.

The State Council is attempting to boost China’s domestic economy to weather an economic storm that started before the trade war but has undoubtedly been accelerated by trade disputes. It’s likely that a trade deal between the US and China isn’t expected until after 2020, that’s why China is implementing new measures to stimulate its economy.

Overall car sales in the country have declined for the 13th consecutive month in July. The government is hoping to trough the industry with the easing of restrictions.

Beijing is expected to roll out further stimulus measures to help boost its economy in the quarters ahead.

“China data weakness will likely be more visible in August and September, and policymakers will likely lean towards more intensive easing,” analysts at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note. “We expect policy loosening to resume in infrastructure investment, consumption stimulus, and monetary easing.”

Hard to say if platinum will erupt further, but it’s one precious metal that’s still trading on 2008 lows — something to watch for sure.

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China Crackdown Escalates: Hong Kong Protest Leaders Arrested

Update (2145ET): Just minutes after the arrest of Joshua Wong (as we detailed below), Andy Chan, the leader of the banned pro-independence Hong Kong National Party, has reportedly been detained whilst trying to board a flight to Japan.

A police spokesperson told HKFP that Chan was arrested on suspicion of rioting and assaulting a police officer. The Organized Crime And Triad Bureau are investigating.

*  *  *

As we detailed earlier, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been arrested ahead of this weekend’s planned protests throughout the city, according to the Hong Kong Free Press

According to his colleague, Nathan Law, Wong was forced into a private vehicle at 7:30 a.m. on the street and escorted to the Wan Chai police headquarters. According to Law, Wong is being held on three yet-unknown charges, and is being represented by attorneys. 

The arrest of Wong – who was released from prison on June 17 after serving a five-week sentence related to the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement – comes hours after pro-independence leader Andy Chan was arrested at the airport

Wong was the face of those 2014 protests which paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for 79 days. 

The Hong Kong protests began in mid-June in response to a controversial extradition bill that would have allowed China to transport suspects to the mainland for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts, according to US News

Much like the Yellow Vest movement in France, the initial grievance has evolved into a broad anti-government movement every weekend since it began. In early June, 1.3 million residents took to the streets. 

While the protests have been largely peaceful, each weekend has been marked with clashes between a more violent subset of protesters and Hong Kong riot police – who have deployed tear gas, batons, water canons and other crowd-control measures.

Beijing’s patience, meanwhile, may be running out – as Chinese troops and armored trucks were seen entering Hong Kong in the “wee hours of Thursday” under the pretext of a “planned garrison rotation.” 

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how this weekend’s protests go now that key organizers have been arrested and the threat of direct – and possibly deadly Chinese intervention looms.

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Indonesia To Erect New Capital City In Borneo As Jakarta Sinks Into Java Sea

A jungle-covered area on the east of Borneo island has been named as site of Indonesia’s next capital city.

With Jakarta suffering from a combination of an exploding population, dramatically lowered standards of sanitation, and overcrowding leading to a near-constant state of traffic gridlock, government leaders were forced to look elsewhere to establish a new political and economic hub for the country. 

Jakarta has long been slowly sinking. Image source: AFP

But crucially, apart from all of the above ills afflicting the country’s current capital, it remains that Jakarta’s buildings are slowly sinking into the marshlands upon which they were built. 

Already among the world’s most overpopulated urban regions (over 10 million in the city limits with an estimated 30 million people in the greater metropolitan area), it’s long been known as among the fastest-sinking cities on Earth — given scientists recently estimated that at the current rate 95% of North Jakarta will be underwater by 2050, displacing nearly 2 million people, as the city sinks into a bog.

Image source: The New York Times

For this reason the government wants the new capital to be located outside of Java and its swampy flood-prone environs the largest island in the Indonesian archipelago before Jakarta sinks into the Java Sea.

Reports cite not merely natural phenomena making the city sink at an alarming rate, but rampant over-extraction of groundwater to meet the needs of the massive and densely packed population. 

The relocation is the culmination of a months-long search project and was announced Monday by President Joko Widodo. CNN described the new proposed location as follows:

The proposed location, near the relatively underdeveloped cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, is a far cry from the crowded powerhouse which has served as Indonesia’s financial heart since 1949  and Widodo acknowledged that moving the country’s capital to the island will be a mammoth and expensive undertaking.

“As a large nation that has been independent for 74 years, Indonesia has never chosen its own capital,” Widodo said in a televised speech. “The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the center of governance, business, finance, trade and services.”

According to recently updated figures, the financing plan to relocate Indonesia’s capital is estimated at 486 trillion rupiah ($34 billion), according to CNN Indonesia , and will take a decade, which sounds a conservative estimate.

A big chunk of North Jakarta is expected to be completely submerged within a half-century.

The unprecedented undertaking will involve developing 40,000 hectares of land (or nearly 100,000 acres), enough for 1.5 million residents to live there. Of course, the tab could be lowered if only part of the state apparatus is shifted.

Rainforest covered Borneo is the world’s third largest island and sections are owned by Malaysia and Brunei, though Indonesia owns a majority. 

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Idaho Ordered To Pay For Pedophile Sex Offender’s Gender Reassignment Surgery

The state of Idaho has been ordered by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to pay for a prison inmate’s gender reassignment surgery.

Adree Edmo, 31, is currently incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy at a 2012 house party. The same year, he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria

For the past seven years, the prison has provided Edmo with hormone therapy. Now, Edmo wants his penis turned into a vagina – and Idaho taxpayers get to pay for it, according to the Washington Examiner

“Hormone therapy has not completely alleviated Edmo’s gender dysphoria,” the court ruled – adding that his penis continued to cause him distress.

“Edmo testified that she feels ‘depressed, embarrassed, [and] disgusted’ by her male genitalia and that this is an ‘everyday reoccurring thought.’, and that Edmo had bought underwear “to keep, in Edmo’s words, her ‘disgusting penis’ out of sight.”

After describing in graphic detail Edmo’s multiple attempts to self-castrate, the court argued that failing to provide gender reassignment surgery at taxpayer expense would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. “We apply the dictates of the Eighth Amendment today in an area of increased social awareness: transgender health care,” the court wrote in its conclusion. “We are not the first to speak on the subject, nor will we be the last.”

They certainly would treat a prisoner with cancer, they treat a prisoner with diabetes, or other chronic conditions,” Edmo’s lawyer, Deborah Ferguson, told local CBS affiliate KBOI. “So, we have a medically recognized condition that’s very treatable and we have been trying to get her the treatment that she very much needs.” –Washington Examiner

Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) says that the state will appeal the decision with the US Supreme Court. 

“The court’s decision is extremely disappointing,” said Little, adding “The hardworking taxpayers of Idaho should not be forced to pay for a convicted sex offender’s gender reassignment surgery when it is contrary to the medical opinions of the treating physician and multiple mental health professionals.”

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“I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This”: China Reels As Pork Prices Explode To Record Levels

One could see it coming from a mile away, but still the breakout in Chinese pork prices as a result of the country’s “pig ebola” outbreak and the ongoing trade war with the US, is a sight to behold.

As the chart below shows, pork prices in China have soared to record highs in the past two weeks, adding pressure on a government trying to contain food-price inflation during the trade war with the U.S., even as the country’s Producer Price index posted its first negative print in 3 years, putting China in a bind: contain soaring food inflation, or stimulate the economy and risk an angry public backlash (something we discussed extensively two weeks ago).

Prices of China’s favorite protein – used in dishes such as lunchtime dumplings and spicy mapo tofu — have surged 18% in China in just two weeks, since the week ended Aug. 9 and are up more than 50% in the past year. The average price of pork, excluding offal, in the week ended Aug. 23 was 31.77 yuan a kilogram ($2.02 a pound), according to data from China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The cause for the price surge is well-known: African swine fever, which has been raging across China, and Asia, has decimated pork supplies. China’s pig herd had fallen 32% on year in July, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Some analysts expect 2019 production could fall as much as 50% by the time the “pig ebola” is contained.

Breakouts of African Swine Fever in 2019

Speaking to the WSJ, Darin Friedrichs, senior Asia commodity analyst, at INTL FCStone in Shanghai said “it’s hard to know where prices are going to go. We’re in uncharted territory.” He said his own grocery bills have increased by 35% for pork belly since November and 32% for pork chops since January.

As we reported earlier in August, the surge in pork prices and increases in the cost of vegetables were already the main driver of a 2.8% rise in the CPI in July, the fastest pace in 18 months, even as PPI dipped negative.

The 27% surge in pork prices – a core component of the Chinese CPI basket – lifted the headline inflation index by 0.59%.  It could not have come at a worse time: due to the trade war between the US and China, Beijing’s tariffs on U.S. pork have increased prices of American meat.

Traditionally, Chinese people typically eat far more pork than other meat; in fact China is the single biggest consumer of pork in the world. However, a customer at a wholesale market in Beijing told the WSJ her family was now eating more chicken than pork. Indeed, as pork prices rise to levels that are prohibitively high for many, consumers are changing their buying habits, pushing up prices for other meat. Chicken breast is about 20%  more expensive than a year ago, while duck breast has nearly tripled in price to 14,600 yuan (US$2,125) a tonne, making duck farmers into overnight millionaires.

Pork prices are likely to remain elevated for some time, said Betty Wang, a senior economist at ANZ. She said farmers have culled so many pigs that it would take a while for supplies to build up again. “If people feel that food inflation is going up, it may spur policy actions,” she added, although it wasn’t clear just how Beijing can find a quick and easy substitute to domestic farms.

Until things normalize, Beijing has taken an idea from the Trump administration: outside the wholesale market, red banners advertised government subsidies for pork slaughterhouses. The government has been trying to push farms and slaughterhouses to increase production to relieve pressure on prices, but herd numbers continue to fall.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Xiao Tong, a vendor who has been selling pork for nearly 20 years in Beijing. “Every day the price rises more.” Prices are so high that not only retail customers, but businesses can no longer afford to buy pork: she said even her longtime clients, such as local restaurants and construction companies, are trimming purchases.

Making matters worse, another major spike in prices is coming once short-term inventories are depleted. Chenjun Pan, a senior analyst at Rabobank in Hong Kong, said storage levels of frozen pork seem to have also fallen in recent months.

Meanwhile, China’s pork imports have jumped more than 60% in the second quarter, but foreign supplies have been constrained or are more expensive, especially with Chinese tariffs on US products. Beijing levied new tariffs totaling 50% on pork from the U.S. last year and in June suspended pork imports from Canada.

Pork prices have been a concern for Beijing  because of its importance in the local diet.  Chinese consumers eat an average of about 67 pounds a person each year, while per-capita consumption in the U.S. is around 51 pounds a year, according to data from the OECD.

One final tangent: roughly one year ago, there was a “modest proposal” floated in the darker corners of the internet, that if Trump wanted to win the trade war with Beijing and spark a social revolt, all he had to do was spark a deadly epidemic affecting China’s preferred food source. One wonders if said proposal did not eventually make its way to the oval office…

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Obama Returns To Politics With Initiative To “Favorably Position Democrats” (Except Biden?)

Authored by Rusty Weiss via The Mental Recession

Former President Barack Obama announced a return to the political arena with an initiative designed to ‘favorably position Democrats’ by ‘combating partisan gerrymandering.’

Obama tweeted a message about a program known as ‘Redistricting U,’ which is part of the All on the Line campaign. That campaign is a merger of his Organizing for Action group with former Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Redistricting Action Fund.

“I’ve always believed that training is at the heart of organizing,” Obama explains. “It’s why I made it a priority in my 2008 campaign and throughout our larger movement for change in the years since. The movement for fair maps will determine the course of progress on every issue we care about for the next decade.”

Fair maps, or favorable maps?

He’s Back

Holder warned in 2017 that Obama would be making a return to politics and that his role would specifically involve this effort to combat gerrymandering.

“It’s coming. He’s coming,” Holder told reporters at an event for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “And he’ll be ready to roll.”

Well, he’s now rolling …

It’s Not About Fairness

Former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker counters that the effort has little to do with opposition to drawing congressional districts based on partisan interests, and more to do with benefitting the Democrat party solely.

Fox News reports that ‘Redistricting U’ is “focused on impacting the redrawing of congressional districts, which will take place in 2021 following the collection of data in the 2020 census.”

In other words, Democrats are okay with redrawing maps as long as it’s in their favor.

Like, for instance, in Maryland where a three-judge federal court panel ruled that the state unconstitutionally drew the boundary lines to benefit Democrats after the 2010 census.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama in 2010, even asserted during oral arguments in a request to take up the case that Democrat efforts were “excessive.”

The 6th District of Maryland’s composition was flipped “from 47 percent Republicans and 36 percent Democrats to, instead, 45 percent Democrats and 34 percent Republicans, effectively ensuring that Republicans will never win this seat again,” she explained, “how is that not excessive?”

Obama Post-Politics

Did Obama ever really leave the political arena?

In June of 2018, he held private meetings coaching Democrat hopefuls on how they can beat Trump in 2020. He met with a wide range of hopefuls such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and his partner in crime, former Vice President Joe Biden.

He has perpetually badmouthed the President since he left office, including comments that compared the political climate under the Trump administration to 1930s Nazi Germany.

While George W. Bush exited the White House gracefully by not criticizing his successor or meddling in Republican political efforts, Obama seems unable to tamp down his ego enough to do the same.

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Car Manufacturers Halt Production In India Amid Disastrous Slowdown

The India economy is set to deteriorate through 2H19 despite the government’s stimulus unveiled last week. A global synchronized slowdown and a negative fiscal impulse have sent the economy into a tailspin. Regional instabilities in Jammu and Kashmir, a currency rout with the rupee plunging underneath 72 against the dollar, and a trade war between the US and China, are other factors that have not helped the situation.

Automotive manufacturing in the country has been one of the hardest-hit sectors. Indian auto sales in July plunged 30.9% to 200,790. It’s the ninth consecutive month of declines and the steepest drop in 18 years. The sales declines forced hundreds of thousands of layoffs in the last several months, with many companies forcing to idle factories.

Reuters obtained company notices to employees that showed Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor and South Korea’s Hyundai Motor are the latest companies idling factories amid the downturn that could last through 1H20.

Denso Corp’s Indian unit, which makes powertrain and air-conditioning systems for cars, laid off 350 temporary workers at its Manesar plant in northern India, a source told Reuters.

Bellsonica, which is owned by Maruti Suzuki, had to idle its fuel tank and brake pad plants this month and lay off several hundred workers in Manesar, two sources said.

Already, the auto sector has cut as many as 350,000 jobs; this includes auto manufacturing, auto parts manufacturing, and dealership jobs.

The downturn in the automobile industry is a significant obstacle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government because autos account for 50% of India’s manufacturing output.

Automobile companies, directly and indirectly, employ more than 35 million people.

“If this industry goes down, then everything gets hurt. Manufacturing, jobs, and revenue to the government,” Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM, told Reuters earlier this month.

In another memo viewed by Reuters, Toyota told workers the company would pause production at its plants in Bengaluru in southern India on Aug 16 and 17 “due to low market demand of vehicles.”

N. Raja, deputy managing director, at Toyota’s Indian unit, told Reuters that its plants would have been idled for at least 16% of the entire month (or about five days) to thwart a rapid build in stocks due to decreasing demand.

“The industry is deeply concerned with the reality of poor customer sentiment faced by the sector,” said Raja, adding he expected the government to provide stimulus to the industry.

In another memo viewed by Reuters, Hyundai said it has halt body, paint, engine, and transmission plants for several days this month.

Last month, Bosch Ltd, the largest parts maker in India, published a memo that outlined how it suspended operations at its Gangaikondan plant in Tamil Nadu for a week in late July to “avoid unnecessary build-up of inventory.”

Ram Venkataramani, President, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), said the 15% to 20% cut in auto production had triggered an auto crisis in India, could lead to at least one million people being laid off in the coming quarters.

The Indian auto crisis – regarded by industry executives as a disastrous downturn that could be one of the worst seen in the country’s history.

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