Building Products
Japan
Overview
(millions of U.S. $) 2004 2005 2006(estimated)
Total Market Size 118,172 115,778 110,622
Total Local Production 108,331 106,364 101,701
Total Exports 1,853 2,122 2,109
Total Imports 11,694 11,536 11,031
Imports from the U.S. 1,116 953 907
(Note: The above statistics include residential and commercial building products and are unofficial estimates. The exchange rates used are 108.15 yen/US$ for 2004, 110.11 yen for 2005, and 116.31 yen for 2006.)
Improving economic conditions in Japan in 2006 have helped to stem the slide of commercial and residential property construction in Japan. As a result, housing starts are expected to increase to 1.27 million in 2006. This marks a significant turnaround in the Japanese construction industry, which saw annual housing starts fall to the 1.15 million level between 2002 and 2004. The improving quality of Japanese constructed homes/apartments, moreover, has also led to increases in home renovations/home improvement projects in Japan. As the Japanese economy continues to improve, combined with an increasing population of aging baby-boomers who look to modernize their homes, this trend is expected to continue. As a whole, these trends bode well for the building products in Japan which is expected to increase in terms of Japanese Yen value in 2007, but decline slightly in dollar terms as a result of the appreciating U.S. dollar against the Yen.
The major exporters competing with companies in the United States are China, Canada, the countries of East Asia and Scandinavia. Since many Japanese companies are not all that familiar with imported building products, it is important for manufacturers and exporters to provide information on how to use their products, as well as to pay close attention to after sales service.
Best Prospects/Services
Since it is extremely difficult for US products to compete with Chinese and other Asian building products on price, it is important to avoid price competition. US building products that have some unique features have increased potential in Japan. Wood windows and doors, vinyl windows, kitchen and bathroom faucets, paints and insulation materials are currently examples of imported building products that are doing well in the Japanese market.
Opportunities
The Japan Management Association (JMA) organizes the Japan Home & Building Show (www.jma.or.jp/jhbs/). This show is a U.S. Department of Commerce certified trade show. CS Japan and JMA will co-organize a USA Pavilion in the show in November 2007. For further details, please contact Kazuhisa.Takabatake@mail.doc.gov .
The Economic Research Association, a private association which publishes information concerning building materials and building technologies, manages the "Kenchiku Shizai” database on its Japanese-only website (www.kensetsu-plaza.com/). This database lists many imported building materials that can be reviewed by Japanese general contractors and architectural design firms. This website may be a good gateway to disseminate product information of U.S. commercial building material manufacturers. Inquiries for registration of product information should be addressed to media@zai-keicho.or.jp .
A group of Japanese architectural design firms who originally established a database for their own use have since made it open for other architectural design firms and general contractors. This useful database, known as “Archimap,“ can be found at www.archimap.ne.jp/ (in Japanese only). Direct all inquiries to info@archimap.ne.jp .
Resources
CS Japan Contacts:
Residential Building Products: Mr. Kazuhisa Takabatake (CS Osaka) Kazuhisa.Takabatake@mail.doc.gov
Commercial Building Products: Mr. Koji Sudo (CS Tokyo)
Building Materials/Housing Mailing List
CS Osaka-Kobe sends “CS Market Research” reports on the Japanese housing market to U.S. companies by e-mail. To be placed on our broadcast e-mail lists, please register at www.buyusa.gov/japan/en/mailing.html.
Useful Websites:
Japanese Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT)
www.mlit.go.jp/english/index.html
Building Center of Japan (BCJ)
Evergreen Building Products Association
CS Japan’s Website on “Residential Building Products, Housing and Interior Textiles”
www.buyusa.gov/japan/en/housing_textiles.html
Economic Research Association (English)