Japan Electric Wire and Cable Export Decreases, Import Increases in F2010

Japanese electric wire and cable export (including optical fiber and optical fiber cable) totaled FOB 257.1 billion yen in fiscal 2010 ended in March 2011, decreasing by 2.5% from the previous year, while the import totaled CIF 483.6 billion yen, increasing by 15.6%, according to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance and the analysis by Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association (JCMA). The export especially decreased for high voltage power cables and optical fiber cables. The import mainly recovered for copper wires and cables for transporting machines.

High voltage power cables are mainly for overseas power companies’ power transmission projects. In fiscal 2010, the export dropped by 52.1% to 9.3 billion yen for the Middle East, among which the export for Qatar decreased by 58.3% to 5.8 billion yen. The export for Asia almost kept year-on-year flat at 9.6 billion yen. Japanese cable makers are suffered from severe competitions between overseas cable makers and underlying trend of strong yen.

The export of optical fiber cable decreased by 25.8% to 9.2 billion yen for Asia and dropped by 86.3% to 1.9 billion yen for the U.S.A. The export shrank by 72.4% to 1.4 billion yen for the Middle East and downed by 70.3% to 1.3 billion yen for Europe. Some concerns point out the export is decreasing along the increase of offshore cable production near the consumers. Meanwhile, the export seems decreasing due to strong yen trend and rapid price down at overseas markets.

As for the import, copper wires and cables for transporting machines, mainly automotive wiring harness, recovered year-on-year when Japanese car production rebounded in fiscal 2010 and out-in of automotive wiring harness increased. The import of copper wires and cables for transporting machines was 117.5 billion yen from China, 70.8 billion yen from Vietnam, 53.7 billion yen from the Philippines, 26 billion yen from Indonesia and 17.4 billion yen from Thailand.