Orders from 11 Japanese machine tool companies decreased year-on-year in July

According to Japanese media reports, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun has compiled the order performance of 11 Japanese machine tool and forging machinery companies in July 2012. The order value was 65.219 billion yen (about 833.57 million US dollars), a decrease of 6.8% year-on-year and a decrease of 5.1% month-on-month. The order amount has been lower than the same month last year for 10 consecutive months. Affected by negative factors such as sluggish demand in China, the European credit crisis and the appreciation of the yen, the amount of domestic and external orders decreased. In China, although financial tightening is gradually easing and orders from some manufacturers are increasing, it will take some time for demand to officially recover. It is reported that domestic orders in July 2012 were 25.289 billion yen (about 323.22 million US dollars), a decrease of 6.7% year-on-year and a decrease of 4.1% month-on-month. The value of external orders was 39.930 billion yen (about 510.35 million US dollars), a decrease of 6.9% year-on-year and a decrease of 5.7% month-on-month. AMADA's overseas orders increased for the first time in five months. Orders in Europe as a whole rose for the first time in four months, due to strong demand from Eastern Europe and Russia. Demand for orders to North America was firm. On the other hand, demand for electric motors and general machinery in Japan was sluggish, and the value of domestic orders decreased for the first time in 13 months. Note: The real-time exchange rate used in this paper is 1 USD u003d 78.2840 yen.