55% of Japan firms with overseas bases feel impact of Ukraine war, poll shows

Fifty-five percent of Japanese companies with overseas bases have had their business operations impacted, or foresee they will be impacted, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a recent survey by a Japanese staffing firm showed.

The online survey of 699 Japanese entities across 10 economies, conducted by Pasona Group Inc. in mid-March, found that firms based in France were by far the most affected, with 92.3% responding they had been impacted in some way.

France was the only European country included in the survey. It was followed by Malaysia at 72% and Singapore at 66.7%.

Of the 55%, 43.2% said they already feel the effects of the conflict, while 22.7% said they expect to do so within a month and 26.8% within three months.

The most cited impact among the 43.2% was soaring costs of raw materials including oil, chemicals and metals. This was followed by rising logistics costs and energy prices.

Those in the retail and wholesale sector also cited delays in deliveries of packaging, while a trading firm said Western countries’ economic sanctions on Russia over the invasion created issues in collecting accounts receivable.

Only 34.6% of the Japanese firms surveyed said they have taken countermeasures. As for concrete steps, 54.3% of those companies cited information-gathering in a multiple-choice question, followed by securing inventories at 32.5% and choosing suppliers at 23.5%.

Specific actions carried out by manufacturing firms in India included starting negotiations to raise prices on products, while a trading firm in Hong Kong said it is reviewing conditions for transactions with Russian clients.

The economies covered by the March 11 to 16 survey were the United States, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

The manufacturing sector made up the biggest group of companies at 43.6%, followed by trading houses at 20.7% and retailers and wholesalers at 9.9%.