Japan Cemented Carbide Tool Shipment Kept Steady in January

Japanese domestic shipment of cemented carbide tools increased by 6.4% to 28.41 billion yen in January from a year earlier, announced by Japan Cemented Carbide Tool Manufacturers’ Association on Monday. Shipment maintained steady despite less business days in January. Shipment of cutting tools had exceeded 20 billion yen for 11 months in a row. Shipment for export had represented 2-digit year-to-year increase for 9 straight months, while shipment growth for domestic market had been slower.Total shipment kept the high level in January, though it became slower than October-November 2007 when monthly shipment hit record 31 billion yen consecutively. In January, shipment for domestic market was 21.79 billion yen, up by 3.7% year-on-year, and shipment for export was 6.62 billion yen, up by 16%.Cutting tool shipment maintained strong, especially insert chips. Domestic shipment of insert chips increased by 14.9% to 22.029 million chips in January from a year earlier, which had shown 2-digit year-to-year growth for 9 months in a row. Demand seems strong from Japanese automakers’ and auto part makers’ overseas sites.Shipment of sintered diamond and the tool, including cubic boron nitride tools, increased by 4.9% to 1.973 billion yen in January from a year ago. Demand had increased from manufacturers of automobile and airplane parts. Shipment of rock drilling tools had exceeded 700 million yen for 4 months by January thanks to active development of resources and infrastructures worldwide. Shipment growth maintained relatively slow for wear resistant tools due to severe competitions with overseas makers especially for carbide molds.