Japan's machine tool exports hit a record high

The Japan Machine Tool Industry Association held a press conference on Japan's macro economy, machine tool industry trends and the Great East Japan Earthquake during the recently held CIMT2011 Machine Tool Exhibition. Kenichi Nakamura, President of Japan Machine Tool Industry Association, Hiroto Kamijou and Yoshiji Ishimaru attended the conference. According to Nakamura Kenichi, 'The order value of Japan's machine tool industry exceeded 1 trillion yen for five consecutive years from 2004 to 2008, but due to the financial crisis, the order value in 2009 was only 411.8 million yen, the level of 30 years ago. In 2010, under the background of strong demand from China and other Asian countries, the total order value reached 978.6 million yen, an increase of more than 130% year-on-year, of which export demand increased by 166% year-on-year to 671.1 million yen, recovering to the first place in history. The level of 4.' Nakamura Kenichi expects that the order amount in 2011 will reach 1.1 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of more than 12.4%. According to the data released by the Japan Machine Tool Industry Association, in February this year, Japan received orders from Asian countries of 45.66 billion yen, which has hit a record high for two consecutive months. Orders from China's mechanical and electrical, automotive, and general machinery industries were active, accounting for 40% of Japan's overall export share. At the same time, the North American market showed a relatively obvious recovery trend. Regarding the impact of the earthquake and tsunami events in Japan on the machine tool industry, which has attracted considerable attention in the industry, Kenichi Nakamura said that most machine tool manufacturers are located in the central and western parts of Japan, and the direct damage to the machine tool industry is not serious, and the impact on the overall production is relatively light. However, due to the shortage of power supply, Japan will take measures to limit power supply, and domestic gasoline and other fuel supply will be insufficient, which may bring inevitable indirect losses to the machine tool industry.