According to the latest statistical data released by the Japan Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA), the total sales of Japanese construction machinery in June 2022 was 259.9 billion yen (about 13.25 billion yuan), an increase of 6.4% year-on-year, but the growth rate decreased, falling by 6 percentage points.
From January to June 2022, the total sales of Japanese construction machinery was 1535 billion yen (about 78.3 billion yuan), an increase of 15.9% year on year. Among them, the total sales volume in the first quarter was 822.1 billion yen (about 42 billion yuan), an increase of 23.1% year-on-year; The total sales volume in the second quarter was 713 billion yen (about 36.4 billion yuan), an increase of 8.7% year-on-year.
In a single month, the total sales of construction machinery in Japan from January to March showed a month on month increase and a year-on-year decrease; From April to June, the month on month ratio still showed an upward trend, but after a year-on-year recovery in May, it fell back rapidly in June. The total sales volume of Japanese construction machinery has been continuously affected by the downward pressure of domestic economy.
domestic market
The year-on-year growth rate showed an alternating trend of growth and contraction
From January to June 2022, the domestic sales of Japanese construction machinery was 482.1 billion yen (about 25 billion yuan), an increase of 1.7% year-on-year. Among them, the sales in January, February, March and may were basically the same as that of the same period of the previous year, and the year-on-year growth was all within 3%. In the first half of the year, the highest year-on-year growth of domestic sales in Japan occurred in April, which was 11.3%; In June, the year-on-year growth rate turned negative (- 4.6%), breaking the positive growth trend of domestic demand for eight consecutive months. In addition, although the sales volume in March was the highest in the first half of the year, the year-on-year growth rate was only 0.8%, which was the penultimate month in the year-on-year change in the first half of the year. Overall, in the first half of 2022, the year-on-year growth rate of domestic sales of Japanese construction machinery showed a trend of alternating growth and contraction.
From the sales of nine different models and parts, in the first half of 2022, the hydraulic crusher (hammer) in the domestic market of Japan became the model with the highest year-on-year growth rate at 19.6%; The model with the lowest year-on-year growth rate is the shovel machinery, down 18.5%. It is worth noting that in the same period of 2021, the year-on-year growth rate of shovel machinery also ranks the second among the nine models. From January to June, the hydraulic excavator became the best model in Japan with sales of 138.5 billion yen (about 7.16 billion yuan).
In addition, except for concrete machinery (- 0.3%), road machinery (- 10.5%), small hydraulic excavator (- 2.3%) and shovel machinery (- 18.5%), the growth of other models is positive.
export market
Year on year increase, but the growth rate obviously slowed down
In terms of exports, from January to June 2022, the export volume of Japanese construction machinery was 1052.9 billion yen (about 54.43 billion yuan), an increase of 23.9% year-on-year. In the first half of the year, the export volume of Japanese construction machinery accounted for 68.5% of the total sales, and was 2.2 times of the domestic sales.
Among them, the export volume in the first quarter was 548.5 billion yen (about 28.36 billion yuan), an increase of 37.7% year-on-year. The export volume in the second quarter was 504.4 billion yen (about 26.08 billion yuan), an increase of 11.8% year-on-year. In a single month, the export volume in March was the highest, 218.9 billion yen (about 11.32 billion yuan); The year-on-year growth rate in January was the highest, at 49.1%.
Looking back on the whole first half of the year, although the year-on-year growth rate of Japan's construction machinery exports in each month was on the rise, the growth rate was obviously narrowed.
In terms of export models, from January to June, only pile construction machinery showed negative growth (- 14.5%), and other models showed positive growth in varying degrees. Among them, the construction crane has the highest year-on-year growth (except for parts) of 50.5%; The export volume of hydraulic excavator is the highest, reaching 399.2 billion yen (about 20.6 billion yuan).
At present, the Japanese economy is facing unprecedented challenges, including multiple risks brought by repeated epidemics, geographical conflicts, rising commodity prices, inflation, and global economic slowdown. Against the background of extremely severe internal and external environment, on July 25, the Japanese Cabinet Office lowered the actual GDP growth forecast for this fiscal year from 3.2% to about 2%, which is difficult to be optimistic. Whether the total sales of Japanese construction machinery can continue the growth trend in the first half of the year needs further observation.
