Based on production & shipment Value summary of rubber products from January to June 2015 from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the shipment value was 1 trillion 130 billion 547 million yen, decreased by 2.7% compared to the same period of last year.
By item, rubber footwear went beyond the previous year’s actual performance result in both volume and amount. Other rubber products also went over the previous year’s result in their amount. However, automobile tire tubes, rubber belts, rubber hoses, and industrial rubber products are all went below the previous year’s actual performance result in both volume and amount.
The production number of automobile tire tubes from January to June was 76,430,000, decreased by 5.1% compared to the same period of last year. The detailed breakdown is as follows: trucks & buses were 5,276,000, decreased by 2.6%; passenger vehicles were 56,960,000, decreased by 5.6 %; small trucks were 11,575,000, decreased by 3.5%; two-wheeled vehicles were 1,852,000, decreased by 2.6%; specialized vehicles were 772,141, decreased by 8.7% compared to the same period of last year. Overall, all tires went below the previous year’s actual performance result. The shipment value was 615 billion 122 million yen, decreased by 3.4% compared to the same period of last year. The detailed breakdown is as follows: trucks & buses were 125 billion 605 million yen, decreased by 11.3%; passenger vehicles were 297 billion 913 million yen, decreased by 3.1%; small trucks were 76 billion 661 million yen, decreased by 2.9% compared to the same period of last year.
Various factors have contributed to this year-on-year losses. Until June, automobiles continued to fall below the previous year performance in production volume for 12 continuous months, and a massive increase was shown between January and March last year due to the last-minute demand before the consumption tax increase. Plus, non-snow area didn’t experience any snow unlike last year.
Production volume (quantity of new rubbers) for rubber belts between January to June was 12,419 tons, decreased by 3.3% and the amount was 35 billion 815 million yen, decreased by 2.2% compared to the same period of last year.
Conveyor belts shifted positively in both production volume and amount. Domestic demand progressed steadily in iron and steel sector where the majority of demands come from. While export demand was again affected by ongoing slump in coal producing countries namely Australia, it went beyond the previous year’s level thanks to the increases at the beginning of the year.
However, toothed belts decreased due to production volume fall in automobiles. Other belts also resulted in negative figures, and therefore rubber belts in overall resulted in a fall from the previous year.
Production volume for rubber hoses between January to June was 17,572 tons, decreased by 1.4% and the amount was 67 billion 844 million yen, decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period of last year.
As more than 70% of overall production in rubber hoses is for automobiles, it was affected by decrease in automobile production. As for high pressure hoses, while machine tools remained strong, construction machines went below the previous year’s actual performance result and thus caused a negative figure result. Due to this, rubber hoses in overall also went below the previous year.
For others, production volume for industrial rubber products between January to June was 86,805 tone, decreased by 4.2% and the amount was 332 billion 285 million yen, decreased by 2.5% compared to the same period of last year.
On a single month basis, shipment value in June was 197 billion 390 million yen, increased by 0.4% compared to the same period of last year and thus shifted from the previous month’s decrease to increase.
The production number of automobile tire tubes was 13,111,000, decreased by 7.1% compared to the same period of last year. All tires resulted in decrease. Shipment value was 107 billion 960 million yen, decreased by 0.7% compared to the same period of last year thus showed a decrease for 3 months in a row. Passenger vehicles unchanged, two-wheeled vehicles increased by 9.2%, and specialized vehicles increased by 9.1% and thus showed relatively high growth.
For rubber belts in June, production volume was 2,217 tons, decreased by 3.9%. While other belts were increased by 5.1%, conveyor belts and toothed belts went down. Amount was 6 billion 552 million yen, decreased by 3.8% compared to the same period of last year. 10.0% decrease in conveyor belts due to poor export performance toward resource countries affected the result.
For rubber hoses in June, production volume was 3,063 tons, increased by 3.2. The amount was 11 billion 807 million yen, increased by 2.6% compared to the same period of last year. As automobiles and other rubber belts shifted positively in both production volume and amount, this filled the loss in high pressure hoses.
Production volume for industrial rubber products in June was 15,236 tons, increased by 0.3% and the amount was 58 billion 528 million yen, increased by 1.1% compared to the same period of last year.