Japan’s automobile output falls by 9.7% in Apr; exports down 2.8%

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japan’s production of automobiles fell by 9.7% year on year to 643,901 units in April this year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said on Tuesday.

The country’s exports of automobiles fell by 2.8% year on year to 369,131 units in April, it said in a statement.

Exports of automobiles North America, which includes passenger cars, trucks and buses, fell by 2.6% year on year to 147,612 units while to those to Europe were up by 18.4% at 62,978 units, it said.

Overall motorcycles production rose by 12.6% year on year to 40,521 units, while exports were up by 14.8% at 4,708 units, according to JAMA.

The country’s exports of motorcycles to Europe rose by 41.6% year on year to 19,682 units, while those to North America were up by 6.4% at 9,268 units.

The automotive industry is a major global consumer of petrochemicals which contributes more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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