Value of US building materials imports to Japan rises 18.7% in first two months of 2013 to US$147M, with total import value up 13.2% to US$1.94B; housing starts rise to 71,456 units in March, up 7.3% year-over-year

Allison Oesterle

Allison Oesterle

LOS ANGELES , May 10, 2013 () – In the first two months of 2013, the value of total building materials imports to Japan rose 13.2% to ¥191.6 billion (about US$1.94 billion at ¥99/US$), compared with ¥169.3 billion (about US$2.12 billion at ¥79.82/US$) in the same period of 2012, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commercial Service.

In the two-month period, the value of building product imports from the U.S. rose 18.7% to ¥14.6 billion (US$147 million), from ¥12.3 billion (US$153.55 million) in the same period a year earlier.

Japanese imports of U.S. waferboard, OSB and particleboard rose 12.2% to ¥2,779 million from ¥2,477 million, according to data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance. Imports from the U.S. represented 0.2% of this total at ¥6 million, up 23.3% from ¥5 million in 2012.

Total imports of U.S. plywood and laminated wood panels rose 2% in value from ¥31,098 million to ¥31,719 million. Imports from the U.S. represented 0.1% of this total at ¥32 million, up 138.9% from ¥14 million in 2012.

The value of total joinery and lumber stud imports rose 13.7% from ¥17,797 million to ¥20,240 million. The U.S. contributed 2.2% to this total at ¥455 million, up 35.3% from 2012 (¥336 million).

Housing Starts

The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism released housing starts data for March 2013 showing a total for the month of 71,456 units, up 7.3% from March 2012. For the first three months of 2013, total starts were 209,714 units compared with 199,509 units in 2012—an increase of 5.1%.

Of the total for March 2013, single-family housing starts accounted for 35,576 units, up 9.9% from March 2012. For the first three months, starts in this category were 6.9% higher than in 2012, climbing from 96,863 to 103,546.

The number of row houses rose by 26.4% in March to 8,190 units, and increased 10.4% in the first three months from 20,009 to 22,088 units. Multi-family dwellings fell 0.2% in March to 27,690 units, and were up 1.7% in the first three months from 82,637 units in 2012 to 84,080.

Meanwhile, 2x4 housing starts, which are not included in the total, were up 21.8% in March to 9,389 units, and prefabricated starts rose 12.0% to 9,520 units. In the first three months, 2x4 starts climbed 13.6 % from 21,871 to 24,843 units, and prefabricated starts rose 6.3% from 29,188 units in 2012 to 31,031 units.

The primary sources of this article are reports issued on May by the U.S. Commercial Service, Osaka-Kobe, Japan.

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