According to Nikkei china.com, China's demand is supporting the performance of Japanese companies. The combined operating profit of fy2017 (as of march2018) will increase by 1% year-on-year, and the performance of industrial robot business facing China has been boosted, according to the forecast released by fanaco, the comprehensive manufacturer of plant automation equipment and robot in Japan on April 27. In addition, the expansion of public investment in China also makes up a good for construction machinery manufacturer juniper. Although Komatsu's operating profit (US accounting standards) is expected to decline by 10% year-on-year in fy2017, if the expenses incurred by M & A of U.S. enterprises are excluded, the profit actually increases by 12%. In the context of the increasing uncertainty of U.S. demand, the situation of relying on China will be strengthened.
"The Chinese market is hot," said Kobayashi, chairman and CEO of fanaco at the financial statements meeting on the 28th. In order to produce new generation smart phones of apple in the United States, EMS enterprises have increased investment, and the shipment of cutting machines is expanding rapidly. Although the upgrading of smart phones can bring about temporary demand growth, in China, the demand for factory automation to cope with structural changes such as rising wages is also increasing.
In particular, industrial robots are in short supply, and fanaco has decided to build a new factory in the prefecture of tsugucheng, Japan. By August 2018, the capacity of 6000 units per month will be increased to 9000 units.
According to the statistics of Japan Machine Tool Industry Association, the order amount of machine tools for China in March was 36.7 billion yen, nearly three times higher than that of the previous year. "The recovery of Chinese manufacturing will continue," said rice leaf, President of fanaco.
"Supported by the growth of public investment after the second half of 2016," said guishanzhev, director of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., for the sales of construction machinery in China. Sales in China increased 33% in 2016 to y71.5 billion. Komatsu's sales of construction machinery and vehicles to China increased by 40 per cent.
Even after the Spring Festival, the demand season, sales to China remain strong. In fy2017, Komatsu forecast sales to China will increase by 3% year-on-year to jpy100bn. Hitachi construction machinery is expected to grow by 4 percent to 74.1 billion yen“ "It is estimated that the demand will last until the fall," said Koizumi, vice president of Komatsu. It is argued that the background is that the Chinese government will not let the economy cold until the end of the Party Congress in the autumn of 2017.
"China's domestic consumption is strong, but its export to overseas has not increased," said Okada, vice president of JFE holdings, a Japanese steel company. China's low-cost steel inflow to Japan has become one of Okada's worries as of the previous fiscal year, but this situation is now showing a tendency to reduce.
Although JFE did not publicly forecast its performance for fy2017, the market's average forecast for it was nearly twice as high as regular income, to around JPY 160bn. In the Asian steel market, China's excess capacity and export brake are the prerequisite for JFE revenue recovery.
Although China's demand is recovering, the market for construction machinery is still shrinking compared with the fiscal year 2010, when the government implemented a large-scale fiscal stimulus. China's demand for hydraulic excavators was less than 1/3 at that time. In the machine tool industry, there are concerns that after demand for smartphones, market demand may fall.
