Total orders for Japanese manufacturers of metal cutting machine tools were just +0.1% higher than in the 4th quarter of 2024 but increased by +6.8% compared to the start of last year. Within the total, home orders increased by +6.8% quarter-on-quarter while export demand fell by -2.5%; compared to a year ago (Q1-2024) there was growth of +2.3% and +8.9% respectively,
The Japan Machine Tool Builders Association (JMTBA) publish monthly orders data for total business done by Japanese manufacturers (not the market like the US data); also, please note that it only covers metal cutting machine tools (there is a separate association in Japan for manufacturers of metal forming machines). However, given the relatively low import ratio in Japan, the domestic orders series will be a good guide to the market situation.
The Japanese manufacturers orders are split 30% domestic and 70% overseas in the 1st quarter of 2025 which is the highest export ratio since 2015 when we started to track this data. The largest export markets for Japanese manufacturers of metal cutting machines in Q1-2025 were China (33% of total export orders), the USA (25%), the EU (12%) and India (9%).
The JMTBA report also provides a breakdown of domestic orders by industry. The largest sector is industrial machinery (38% of the total) but this is a very broad category with a large number of sub-groups. The automotive industry accounted for 22% of total domestic orders in Q1-2025, with two-thirds of this in components.
The fastest growth in domestic orders was from construction machinery (part of the industrial machinery group highlighted above) where orders grew by +66% quarter-on-quarter; the other strong improvement compared to the 4th quarter of 2024 came in “other transport equipment” (I.e. excluding the automotive industry) with growth of +45%. The weakest domestic sector was “government, public agencies & schools” (-20%) but this is a very small category and comes partly in reaction to a strong result at the end of 2024.
You can access the JMTBA report at https://www.jmtba.or.jp/english/category/machine-tool-orders/ (May. 1, 2025) or we can send you the summary of the data – contact Geoff Noon at MTA (email: [email protected]) if you want this analysis. A chart showing the 12-month rolling totals is available to download below.