Dun & Bradstreet’s latest global business optimism insights report notes business sentiment across global economies has weakened for Q325, with financial and investment confidence falling sharply amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.
Japan saw some of the sharpest drops, with business confidence faltering as concerns over supply chain disruptions in Asia persisted. This indicates that Japanese businesses are more concerned about the impact of supply chain disruption on their investment planning than domestic policy rates.
The firm’s global business supply chain continuity index recorded a 9.7% downturn for Q325, compared to the previous quarter. Businesses in Asia were more pessimistic than the global average, highlighting a loss of momentum after a strong recovery in the previous quarter.
Aventure Aviation is a commercial and military aviation parts supplier and provider of component repair management services. More than half of its business comes from international customers and the company has sales offices in Beijing, Delhi and Karachi.
At the height of the trade war of words between the US and China, the company’s customers faced seeing the landed cost of their parts change in the time between dispatch and delivery. Landed cost is the total cost associated with getting a product to a buyer and includes not only the product’s purchase price but also all expenses incurred during shipping, handling, customs and other associated fees.
CEO Zaheer Faruqi says this uncertainty has persuaded some customers to order through countries where import costs are lower.
In Vietnam, June saw a worsening of international demand conditions for manufacturers as the impact of tariffs intensified. The S&P Global Vietnam manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dropped to 48.9 from 49.8 points in May.
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, notes that a steep drop in exports contributed to a further reduction in total new orders and led firms to scale back employment and purchasing.
HSBC’s 2025 global trade pulse survey found that nearly 90% of businesses in Singapore were reassessing their business strategies and investment plans in response to uncertainty around US import tariffs.
The survey also revealed that Singapore firms expected supply chain delays to cut their revenues by more than 20% this year.
In contrast, India recorded relative gains in optimism, particularly regarding financial conditions and sustainability-related activities. Despite falling 1.4% quarter-on-quarter, confidence in India remained the highest out of the 32 economies surveyed by Dun & Bradstreet for Q3 2025 at 12.6%.
This positive sentiment is reflected in HSBC’s June flash India composite purchasing managers’ index – compiled by S&P Global – which refers to the strongest upturn in export orders since comparable data became available in September 2014.
“New export orders continued to fuel private sector business activity, especially in manufacturing,” says Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC. “Input and output prices continued to rise for both manufacturing and services firms, but rates of increase showed signs of softening.”
Manufacturers led the upturn in business activity, though growth also picked up pace in the service economy. Rates of increase were at two- and ten-month highs respectively with output boosted by favourable demand trends, efficiency gains and tech investment.
According to CPA Australia’s 16th Asia-Pacific small business survey, India’s small businesses had another strong year in 2024 with 78% reporting growth – the highest among the 11 surveyed markets – and 86% forecasting growth for 2025.
Key drivers of this optimism include India’s focus on technology, e-commerce, innovation, exporting and improved customer satisfaction. Confidence in the economy is also high with four-fifths of India’s small businesses expecting the economy to grow this year.
