A few days ago, the Japan Machine Tool Industry Association (JMTBA) announced accurate statistics of machine tool orders for its member units in September 2010. The data show that in September 2010, the total amount of Japanese machine tool orders was 92.011 billion yen, which was 7.2% higher than the previous month's 85.851 billion yen, which was a substantial increase of 113.6% compared with September 2009. The Japanese machine tool orders were realized for 10 consecutive months. The year-on-year data grew rapidly. Among them, the number of orders for CNC machine tools was 82.262 billion yen, which was the same month-on-month, which was a year-on-year increase of 98%. The orders for CNC machine tools accounted for 89.4% of the total orders. In the first three quarters of January-September, the total volume of Japanese machine tool orders totaled 702.907 billion yen, an increase of 173.2% over the same period in 2009.

In September 2010, sales of Japanese machine tools were 99.945 billion yen, a 37.1% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 80.6% year-on-year; of these, sales of CNC machine tools were 96.202 billion yen, an increase of 80.1% year-on-year. From January to September, Japan’s accumulated sales of machine tools totaled 612.88 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 30.1%. In September, the balance of orders for machine tools was 472.249 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%.

In September, Japan’s domestic orders amounted to 27.717 billion yen, a 5.3% decrease from the previous quarter and an increase of 38.7% year-on-year. In the same period, overseas orders amounted to 64.894 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 13.4% and a year-on-year increase of 175.9%. The data shows that the recovery rate of Japanese overseas machine tool orders has decreased in recent months, but it is still higher than the growth of domestic orders. From January to September, Japan’s domestic orders totaled 219.968 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 98%; overseas orders accumulated to 483.209 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 230.2%. The picture shows the changing trend of Japanese machine tool orders from January 2009 to September 2010.

1. From the perspective of internal demand sub-sectors in terms of domestic user demand in Japan, the order amount for the machinery manufacturing industry, which accounted for 83.6% of the total domestic orders in September, was 22,667 million yen, a decrease of 10% from the previous month and an increase of 37.6% year-on-year. Among them, the order amount of the largest general machinery manufacturing industry was 11.546 billion yen, a decrease of 11.7% from the previous quarter and an increase of 21.9% from the same period last year. Another major machine tool user - the auto industry's orders amounted to 6.408 billion yen, a decrease of 16% from the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 76.4%. In September, orders for electrical and precision machinery were 3.624 billion yen, a decrease of 7.3% from the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 93.1%. The amount of orders for transportation machinery such as aircrafts and ships was 1,089 million yen, an increase of 90.4% from the previous quarter and a decrease of 27.2% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters, Japan's machinery manufacturing industry accumulated a total amount of 191.605 billion yen, an increase of 100.4% year-on-year. Among them, the general machinery manufacturing sector was 89.864 billion yen, an increase of 78% year-on-year, and the automotive industry orders were 63.998 billion yen, an increase of 179.2% year-on-year.

In addition, the amount of orders from the metal products industry in September was 13.01 yen, a 16% increase from the previous quarter and a 64.5% year-on-year increase. Non-ferrous metal industry orders amounted to 514 million yen, an increase of 118.7% from the previous quarter and a decrease of 48.3% year-on-year. Other manufacturing orders amounted to 1.57 billion yen, an increase of 64.1% from the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 183.9%.

2. From the point of view of foreign demand countries and regions, in terms of overseas demand for Japanese machine tools, rankings based on order demand are: China continues to rank first with orders of 25.768 billion yen, and the amount of orders increased by 17.1% from the previous period, which represents year-on-year growth. 201.3%, accounting for 39.7% of Japan's total overseas orders; the United States was second with 14.801 billion RMB, a chain growth of 401%, a significant increase of 263.8% year-on-year, accounting for 22.8% of the total overseas orders; and Germany’s jump of 3.95 billion yen. In the third place, it was 37% month-on-month, a significant year-on-year increase of 259.7%; South Korea fell to the fourth place with 3.11 billion yen, a 34.9% decrease from the previous quarter and an increase of 147.4% year-on-year. Thailand ranks fifth with 2.596 billion yen, a decrease of 13.6% from the previous month and an increase of 225.7% year-on-year. Three of the top five markets for this month were from Asia, with orders totaling 31.474 billion yen, accounting for 48.5% of total overseas demand. In addition, demand for orders in the EU was 8.126 billion yen, a 38.2% increase from the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 159.9%.

From January to September, orders were ranked among the top three countries. Total orders for machine tools from China were 181.372 billion yen, an increase of 316.7% year-on-year; orders from the United States totaled 90.709 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 135.6%; The total amount of orders for the company was 34.244 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 323.5%.

Asia is the continent with the largest demand for Japanese machine tools. From January to September, total orders from various countries were 3023.54 yen, an increase of 328.4% year-on-year. Followed by North America, the order for the first 9 months was 1004.08. Billion Yen, a year-on-year increase of 147.5%, the third is Europe, orders amounted to 7 billion yen, an increase of 130.7%.