According to the production status for rubbers and resin conveyor belts from January to June, 2015 which Japan Belt Manufacturing Association announced, production volume for rubber belts (quantity of new rubbers) was 14,672 tons, decreased by 1% compared to the same period of last year. While conveyor belts performed well with steady domestic demand, transmission belt slowed down and rubber belts in overall resulted in a slight decrease.
By description, production volume for conveyor belts was 5,594 tons, increased by 4% compared to the same period of last year as domestic demand progressed steadily in iron and steel sector where the majority of demands come from.
While export demand for conveyor belts has been dropped again in coal producing countries namely Australia, it managed to achieve 3,157 tons, increased by 5% thanks to the increases at the beginning of the year. Conveyor belts in total were 8,751 tons, increased by 4% compared to the same period of last year.
For transmission belts, however, while orders for machine tools remains strong, the production volume for automobiles where 50% of the demand comes from continues to decline for 12 continuous months till June (Research by Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.), thus domestic consumption ended with 5,134 tons, decreased by 8%, and exporting was 787 tons, decreased by 14% compared to the same period of last year.
By items, for toothed belts domestic demand decreased by 10% and export demand increased by 7%, resulting in 6% decrease in total compared to the same period of last year. For V belts which get affected by mechanical changes such as downsizing or electrification, domestic demand decreased by 8% and export demand also decreased by 26%, resulting in 10% decrease in total compared to the same period of last year. For other belts, domestic demand unchanged and export demand increased by 2%, resulting in 1% increase in total compared to the same period of last year.
The production volume of rubber belts in June itself was 2,666 tons, unchanged from the same period of last year. Domestic demand was 1,940 tons, increased by 5% and export was 726 tons, decreased by 12% compared to the same period of last year.
By description, conveyor belts in total were 1,553 tons, decreased by 2% in which domestic demand increased by 8% and export decreased by 15% compared to the same period of last year. Transmission belts in total were 1,114 tons, increased by 2%, in which domestic demand increased by 2% and export decreased by 1% compared to the same period of last year. The detailed breakdown shows that toothed belts decreased by 11%, V fan belts increased by 5%, and other belts decreased by 1%.
For resin conveyor belts from January to June, the overall production amount was 495,777㎡, decreased by 6% and shipment value was 5 billion 643 million 346,000 yen, unchanged compared to the same period of last year.
By material, PVC was 87,930㎡ decreased by 7%, polyurethane was 339,002㎡ decreased by 7%, and other materials were 68,845㎡ increased by 3% compared to the same period of last year.