Japan Cemented Carbide Tool Shipment Recovers 14 B Yen in June

Japanese domestic shipment of cemented carbide tools decreased by 50.6% to 14.82 billion yen in June from a year earlier while the value recovered 14 billion yen for the first time in 5 months, according to Japan Cemented Carbide Tool Manufacturers’ Association. The shipment remained about 50% level compared with same month a year ago. However, the shipment increased by 21.6% from May. Industrial tool demand showed sign to increase due to the recovery of automobile and electronics.

The cutting tool shipment increased by 23.5% in June from May, which recovered more than 10 billion yen for the first time in 6 months. The insert chips shipment increased for 3 months in a row from the bottom of 9.29 million units in March.

The shipment of sintered diamond and cubic boron nitride tools, which is used to manufacture difficult-to-cut materials such as hardened steel and heat resistant alloy, surged to 900 million yen in June. The shipment stayed in the range of 600 million yen in February-May.