Based on production & shipment Value summary of rubber products from January to June from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the shipment value was 1 trillion 72 billion 784 million yen, decreased by 7.6% compared to the same period of last year.
By item, while rubber footwear went beyond the previous year’s actual performance result in both volume and amount, automobile tire tubes, rubber belts, rubber hoses, industrial rubber products and other 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 72,601,000, decreased by 9.8% compared to the same period of last year. The detailed breakdown is as follows: trucks & buses were 4,723,000, decreased by 12.8%; passenger vehicles were 54,774,000, decreased by 9.3 %; small trucks were 10,451,000, decreased by 12.9%; two-wheeled vehicles were 1,957,000, increased by 2.9%; specialized vehicles were 695,417, decreased by 17.7% compared to the same period of last year. Therefore, all tires except two-wheeled vehicles went below the previous year’s actual performance result.
Shipment value was 568 billion 859 million yen, decreased by 10.6% compared to the same period of last year. The detailed breakdown is as follows: trucks & buses were 116 billion 469 million yen, decreased by 17.8%; passenger vehicles were 280 billion 405 million yen, decreased by 8.8%; small trucks were 67 billion 295 million yen, decreased by 14.7% compared to the same period of last year.
Production volume for four-wheel vehicles from January to July was decreased by 3.4% compare to the same period of last year. The fact that the first-half results continued to fall for 2 continuous years has contributed to this result.
Production volume for rubber belts (quantity of new rubbers) between January to June was 11,104 tons, decreased by 13.6% and the amount was 33 billion 394 million yen, decreased by 8.8% compared to the same period of last year.
For the transmission belts result from January to June, four-wheel vehicles production, which account for the half of the demand, has been sluggish. However, 5% increase in exporting other beltscontributed to the result and thus ended in just 1% decrease compared to the same period of last year. However, domestic demand for conveyor belts from January to June period ended in 2-digit decrease due to poor demand growth in iron and steel sectorwhere the majority of demands come from. Export demand in coal producing countries continued to hover around and also ended in 2-digit decrease. Therefore, rubber belts in total ended significantly lower than the previous year’s actual performance in both production and amount.
Production volume for rubber hoses between January to June was 16,968 tons, decreased by 4.8% and the amount was 66 billion 63 million yen, decreased by 3.9% compared to the same period of last year.
Automobiles, which account for more than 70% of demand, were affected by decrease in automobile production. As for high pressure hoses, the total shipment value for construction machines, where the majority of demands on high pressure hoses come from, continued to decrease until June, thus showed a decrease for 11 months in a row. The total order amount for machine tools also continued to decrease until June and showed a decrease for 11 months in a row, thus ended significantly lower than the previous year’s actual performance.
For others, production volume for industrial rubber products between January to June was 83,236 tons, decreased by 8.2% and the amount was 323 billion 206 million yen, decreased by 5.2% compared to the same period of last year.
Shipment value in June by itself was 186 billion 824 million yen, decreased by 5.0% compared to the same period of last year and showed a decrease for 12 months in a row.
The production number of automobile tire tubes was 12,760,000 decreased by 9.6% compared to the same period of last year. All tires excluding two-wheeled vehicles have decreased. Shipment value was 99 billion 319 million yen, decreased by 8.6% compared to the same period of last year and showed a decrease for 15 months in a row. All tires excluding two-wheeled vehicles have decreased.
For rubber belts, production volume was 1,944 tons, decreased by 15.7% compared to the same period of last year. All belts excluding other belts fell in production volume. Amount was 6 billion 321 million yen, decreased by 7.2% compared to the same period of last year.
For rubber hoses, production volume was 2,921 tons, decreased by 1.6% compared to the same period of last year. Amount was 11 billion 721 million yen, increased by 1.8% compared to the same period of last year.
Production volume for industrial rubber products was 14,614 tone, decreased by 3.7% and the amount was 57 billion 94 million yen, decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period of last year.