February 07, 2012 In November 2011, the total volume of Japanese machine tool orders was 111.998 billion yen, which was a 10.8% increase from the previous period and a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. Japanese machine tool orders have been growing for the 24 consecutive months. In the first 11 months, the Japanese machine tool orders exceeded 100 billion yen in 10 months, and below 100 billion yen in August. In November, orders for Japanese CNC machine tools were 108.641 billion yen, a 9.8% increase from the previous quarter and a 16.4% year-on-year increase. From January to November, the total volume of orders for Japanese machine tools totaled 1.21 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of 37.5%. Among them, the first 11 months of CNC machine tool orders for 1.18 trillion yen, accounting for 97.34% of total orders.

In November 2011, Japan's machine tool sales amounted to 102.661 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 21.5% and an increase of 24.5% year-on-year; of these, sales of CNC machine tools were 10.051 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 26.6%. From January to November, Japan’s cumulative sales of machine tools were 1.06 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of 39.3%. As of November, the balance of orders for machine tools was 655.144 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 31%.

1. In November 2011, the domestic and international orders for machine tools all rebounded month-on-month. In November 2011, Japan's domestic orders amounted to 37.732 billion yen, a 19% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 22% year-on-year. During the same period, overseas orders amounted to 74.266 billion yen, a 7% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 12.9% year-on-year. From January to November, domestic orders totaled 386.242 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 39.9%; and overseas orders accumulated to 823.965 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 36.5%. In November, both domestic and overseas orders for Japanese machine tools rebounded month-on-month.

2. Machinery manufacturing orders increased by 40.9% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2011

In terms of domestic user demand in Japan, the amount of orders for the machinery manufacturing industry, which accounted for 89.29% of the total domestic orders in November 2011, was 33.692 billion yen, which was a 23.5% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 21.2% year-on-year. Among them, the largest share of general machinery manufacturing orders was 15.51 billion yen, a 6.7% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 12.7% year-on-year. Another major machine tool user - the automotive industry's order amount was 12.139 billion yen, an increase of 27%, a year-on-year increase of 34.2%. Orders for electrical and precision machinery amounted to 4.91 billion yen, a 95.8% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 39.9% year-on-year. The volume of orders for transportation machinery such as aircrafts and ships amounted to 1.132 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 65.7% and a year-on-year decrease of 50.3%. In addition, in November, the amount of orders for metal products industry was 897 million yen, a decrease of 17.6% from the previous quarter but an increase of 14.5% year-on-year; the amount of other manufacturing orders was 1.331 billion yen, an increase of 23.7% from the previous quarter and an increase of 87.7% year-on-year.

From January to November 2011, the accumulated orders for the machinery manufacturing industry were 341.062 billion yen, an increase of 40.9% year-on-year. Among them, the general manufacturing orders for the 174.264 billion yen, an increase of 52.2%; the automotive industry orders 111.745 billion yen, an increase of 38.8%.

3. The growth of machine tool orders in Southeast Asian countries is strong, and Chinese orders have dropped to 30%

In terms of overseas demand for Japanese machine tools, according to order demand, in order: In November, China still ranked first with a total of 22.066 billion yen, which was a 9.5% increase from the previous quarter, but it was down 16.8% year-on-year, accounting for Japan’s overseas orders. The proportion has dropped from 45% in January this year to 31.1% in November; the United States is second with 13.776 billion yen, 12.3% down from the previous quarter, but it has increased by 18.6% year-on-year, accounting for 18.5% of the total overseas orders; and Thailand has 10.814 billion. The yen was ranked third, an increase of 79.4% compared with the previous period, and a year-on-year increase of 468.3%, with a share of 14.6%. Germany ranked fourth with 4.18 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4% and a year-on-year increase of 11.3%. 20.25 billion yen ranked fifth, a slight quarter-on-quarter decrease of 0.4% and a year-on-year decrease of 29.3%.

In November, orders for machine tools from Thailand continued to increase significantly, mainly due to increased demand for reconstruction after the floods in Thailand. It is expected that the demand for machine tools for reconstruction in Thailand will become more significant in 2012, so the amount of machine tool orders in Japan will continue to climb.

In November 2011, three of the top five markets in demand came from Asia, with a total of 35.905 billion yen in orders, which accounted for 48.35% of the total overseas demand. The amount of orders in the EU was 11.603 billion yen, which was a 5.5% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 11.3% year-on-year.

From January to November 2011, the amount of machine tool orders from China was 299.79 billion yen, ranking first in Japan's overseas orders for machine tool orders, which increased by 31.8% year-on-year; followed by the United States, the amount of orders was 177.171 billion yen, an increase of 55% year-on-year; The three were Germany, and the order volume was 49.58 billion yen, an increase of 51.7% year-on-year.