Japan's machine tool orders surged 31% in October

According to statistics released by the Japan Machine Tool Industry Association on November 11, machine tool orders (preliminary value) in October increased by 31.2% over the same period of the previous year to 134.13 billion yen. In the Japanese and American markets, the demand for machine tools continued to perform well, and the order volume was higher than the same period last year for 13 consecutive months. The order volume from January to October 2014 has exceeded that of the whole year of 2013. The order value for the whole year of 2014 is expected to exceed 1.4 trillion yen after an interval of seven years. Among them, the domestic order value increased by 17.6% to 45.46 billion yen. Demand for machine tools has increased in a wide range of industries such as automobiles and industrial machinery, and small and medium-sized enterprises have also begun to invest in equipment. Orders in Japan have been higher than a year earlier for 16 consecutive months. Japanese machine tool manufacturers such as DMG Mori Seiki stated that 'the depreciation of the yen has led to an improvement in corporate performance, thereby promoting enterprises to implement equipment investment.' Overseas orders, which accounted for about 70% of total demand, increased by 39.5% to 88.643 billion yen, the second highest in history. The United States, where investment in the auto and energy sectors is booming, has become the engine driving demand growth. Demand for small machine tools from Chinese electronic equipment manufacturers (EMS) is also firm. The cumulative order value from January to October 2014 increased by 35.1% year-on-year to 1,226.5 billion yen.