Industry Forecast
Japan Report
Japanese Trends of Investment Casting Market in 2021
by Japan Foundry Society, Inc., Akira Yoshizawa
detail 2021 production weight and sales trends for each segment, respectively, and are compared with the prior year’s data. Table 1 data depicts actual values from January to September together with estimated values from October to December, based on the 2020 trends, since fourth quarter 2021 actuals were not yet available when this article was prepared. The following are highlights of
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Japan’s 2021 investment casting market trends: 1. Last year’s total investment casting sales are estimated to be approximately 53 billion yen ($460 million), an increase of approximately 18% from 2020. This increase is largely attributable to the recovery experienced in the Gas Turbine and Automobile segments.
2. Last year’s market sector trends are as follows:
A. Gas Turbine Segment Gas Turbine sales in 2021 is estimated to reflect a year-on-year increase of 9%, which is lower than the growth rate experienced in the consecutive years from 2018 to 2020 (about 20%). Demand prospects in the domestic market remain uncertain due to COVID-19, so the trend for 2022 cannot be predicted. If the current trend continues, 2022 growth in the Gas Turbine sector will continue to be the lowest of the high value-added sectors.
B. Automobile Segment The Automotive segment provides the investment casting industry with the largest production volume, but its turnover is the secondary to that of the
24 ❘ January 2022 ®
nvestment casting sales for each segment in the Japanese market is shown in Table 1. Figures 1 and 2
Figure 1: Production weight of each segment in 2021
Thick line (2021): January-September (solid line) shows the actual results, and after October it is estimated from the previous year’s actual results. Thin dotted line (2020): Changes in actual values in 2020
Gas Turbine segment due to the lower price of each manufacturing parts, compared with Gas turbine products. The automobile industry has been most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a significant drop during the June to August 2020 period, but production volume and the turnover have recovered after September, 2020. Year-over-year turnover is expected to increase by approximately 35%. It is difficult to predict the market
trend for 2022 due to the latest uncertainty, especially that of the semiconductor shortage, which resulted in decreased world-wide vehicle production after 3rd quarter 2021. Next year’s sales are expected to be the same
level as in 2021 or small increase from 2021.
C. Aerospace/Weapons/ General Machinery and others General Machinery and Aerospace/ Weapons segments etc. are minor product categories in Japan’s investment casting industry. In 2021, investment casting sales of General Machinery is expected to increase by 27%, however Aero-space/Weapons and others segments are expected to decrease by 7% and 2% respectively from 2020. As of yet, the reason for increase and decrease for each segment has yet to be ascertained. 3. 2022 Sales and Long-Term Prediction
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