The Japan Machine Tool Industry Association held a press conference during the CIMT2011 in response to Japan’s macroeconomics, trends in the machine tool industry, and the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Kenichi Nakamura, chairman of the Japan Machine Tool Industry Association, pointed out that "the order amount of the Japanese machine tool industry exceeded 1 trillion yen for five consecutive years from 2004 to 2008. However, due to the financial crisis, the amount of orders in 2009 was only 411.8 million yen. In 2010, in the context of strong demand from Asian countries such as China, the total amount of orders reached 978.6 million yen, which was a year-on-year increase of more than 130%, of which export demand increased by 166%, reaching 671.1 million days. Yuan returned to the 4th place in history.” Kenichi Nakamura predicts that the amount of orders for 2011 will reach 1,100 billion yen, up by more than 12.4% year-on-year.

According to data released by the Japan Machine Tool Industry Association, in February 2011, Japan received orders for Asian countries of 45.66 billion yen, which has reached record highs for two consecutive months. Orders from the Chinese motor, automobile, and general machinery industries are active. Chinese orders accounted for an overall increase of 40% in Japanese exports. At the same time, the North American market showed a clear trend of recovery.

Regarding the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami incident on the airport industry that the industry is concerned about, Nakamura Kenichi stated that most machine tool manufacturers are located in the middle and western parts of Japan. The direct damage to the machine tool industry is not serious, and the impact on the overall production is light. However, due to power shortages, Japan will adopt measures to limit power consumption. At the same time, domestic petrol and other fuel supplies will be insufficient. This may cause inevitable indirect losses to the machine tool industry.