Japan’s automobile output rises by 1.7% in May; exports up 8.2%

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japan’s production of automobiles rose by 1.7% year on year to 645,539 units in May this year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said on Thursday.

The country’s exports of automobiles rose by 8.2% year on year to 265,684 units in May, it said in a statement.

Exports of automobiles to North America, which includes passenger cars, trucks and buses, rose by 7.0% year on year to 123,801 units while to those to Europe were up by 19.5% at 50,372 units, it said.

Overall motorcycles production fell by 23.1% year on year to 22,267 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 44.0% year on year to 13,771 units, while those to North America were down by 34.8% at 3,842 units.

Source: JAMA

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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