January MT orders, showing declines, domestic up, foreign down

The Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA) announced the firm report for machine tool orders for January 2023. The total amount of orders received was 129.0 billion yen. This was the first month-on-month (MoM) and year-on-year (YoY) decline in two months, and the first time in 17 months since August 2021 (125.9 billion yen) that orders fell below 130 billion yen. Domestic demand increased from the previous month, but foreign demand declined from the previous month due to the Chinese Lunar New Year and a reactionary decline from the previous month’s large orders. This was the 24th consecutive month that orders exceeded 100 billion yen.

Domestic demand increased for the first time in two months and decreased for the fifth consecutive month to 43.4 billion yen. Orders fell below 45 billion yen for the second consecutive month and have remained rather lackluster, but orders in January were up MoM for the first time in 12 years.

By industry, five of the eleven industries showed both MoM and YoY growth. Looking at the four major industries, orders were stable in industries other than motor vehicles, especially electrical & precision machinery, which exceeded 7 billion yen for the first time in five months. Motor vehicles remained below 8 billion yen for the first time in 20 months, showing no signs of recovery.

Foreign demand decreased both MoM and YoY for the first time in two months to 85.6 billion yen, falling below 90 billion yen for the first time in two months.

By region, orders from Asia fell below 40 billion yen for the first time in 16 months due to the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday in China and a reactionary decline following the previous month’s large orders in India. Orders from Europe were firm, mainly from Germany, Italy and other major countries. In addition, orders from Turkey exceeded 3 billion yen for the first time, orders from Switzerland reached the second-highest level ever, and orders from Europe exceeded 20 billion yen for the first time in two months. In North America, orders remained at a high level, exceeding 25 billion yen for the second consecutive month, despite a decline in large orders for aircraft/shipbuilding/transportation equipment in the United States.

January Summary

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Japan MT orders for

• December 2021: First drop below 140 billion yen in 4 months, but still remains high
• 2021 summary: Japan’s MT orders in 2021 raise for the first time in 3 years
• January 2022: Large orders in foreign demand; total orders exceed 140 billion yen
• February 2022: High levels of both domestic and foreign demand, generally keeping strong
• March 2022: Strong March results despite risk factors
• April 2022: April MT orders, minimal impact from risk factors
• May 2022: May MT orders, 3 new records for foreign demand
• June 2022: June MT preliminary report, orders remain favorable
• July 2022: July MT orders, second-highest July month on record
• August 2022: August MT orders, falling below 140 billion JPY first time in 6 months
• September 2022: September MT orders, foreign demand hits a record high for September
• October 2022: October MT orders, first YoY drop in two years but at a high level
• November 2022: November MT orders, record the lowest in 2022
• December 2022: December MT orders, driven by foreign demand despite a decline in domestic demand