According to the latest statistics from the Japan Precision Machinery Industry Association, Japan's orders for small machine tools for April-June 2012 increased by 33% from the same period last year to 31.899 billion yen, achieving a positive growth for 11 consecutive quarters. Affected by the automotive industry, exports to North America and Southeast Asia are increasing. The amount of accumulated orders in the first half of the year increased by 45.2% from the same period of last year to 685.4977 billion yen.

Japan’s number of orders for small machine tools in April-June increased by 977 units to 3,544 units. Among them, 2 NC small-sized lathes (2,494 sets) have an order value of 18.642 billion yen, 149 small-sized CNC grinding machines have an order value of 3.333 billion yen, and 97 small-scale machining centers have an order value of 1.028 billion yen. From April to June, total exports increased by 71.8% year-on-year to 20.685 billion yen, accounting for 64.8% of total orders, an increase of 14.6 percentage points from the same period last year.