MT orders total 119 bn JPY in May 2023: Fall below 120 bn JPY for the first time in 27 months

June 21, 2023

The Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA) announced the firm report of machine tool orders for May 2023. The total amount of orders received was 119.5 billion yen. This was the fifth consecutive month of year-on-year (YoY) decline, and the first time in 27 months that the total order amount fell below 120 billion yen. Domestic demand was affected by fewer working days due to a large national holiday and a reactionary decline from the previous month’s subsidy effect. Foreign demand was also affected by a reactionary decline from the previous month’s large orders, resulting in a month-on-month (MoM) decline. Although both domestic and foreign demand seemed to be in a slight adjustment phase recently, and total orders in May seemed to have failed due to a lack of positive factors, the JMTBA sees “overall firmness” in the market. This was the 28th consecutive month that orders exceeded 100 billion yen.

Domestic demand decreased MoM for the second consecutive month, and YoY for the ninth consecutive month, to 37.8 billion yen. It fell below 40.0 billion yen for the first time in three months due to fewer working days caused by a major holiday in early May and a subsidy-driven rebound. Nine of the 11 industries showed both MoM and YoY declines. In particular, the Electrical & Precision Machinery industry fell below 4 billion yen for the first time in 25 months. Among the other major industries, Industrial Machinery fell below 18 billion yen for the first time in three months, and Motor Vehicles fell below 8 billion yen for the third consecutive month.

Foreign demand decreased MoM for the second consecutive month and YoY for the fifth consecutive month to 81.7 billion yen, falling below 85.0 billion yen for the first time in 21 months.

Orders received by region were as follows: Orders received from Asia fell below 40.0 billion yen for the first time in three months. A downward trend was observed in China, in addition to a reactionary decline from the previous month’s large orders for electrical machinery in India. Orders from Europe fell below 18.0 billion yen for the first time in nine months. This was mainly due to a MoM decline in the EU and a reactionary decline from the previous month’s large orders in the UK, Turkey and other regions. In North America, despite a reactionary decline from last month’s large orders for aircraft, orders for motor vehicles in the area increased and remained above 25.0 billion yen for the third consecutive month.

May Summary

	Amount (million yen)	MoM change (%)	YoY change (%)
Total Orders	119,523	90.1	77.9
Domestic total	37,807	90.6	76.4
Industrial Machinery	17,625	90.3	88.4
Motor Vehicles	7,828	96.9	68.7
Electrical & Precision Machinery	3,655	84.2	52.4
Aircraft/Shipbuilding/Transport equipment	1,804	91.4	112.5
Foreign total	81,716	89.8	78.7
Asia	36,009	87.6	74.5
Europe	17,903	86.2	87.3
North America	25,341	95.1	76.7