Asia’s PM production remained flat in 2012, Europe down and North America up
June 12, 2013
PM production data collected from a number of Asian countries by the Japan Powder Metallurgy Association (JPMA) has been published in the JPMA Annual Report 2012. The data shows that PM production remained essentially flat in Asia with total shipments up just 0.3% to 408,518 tonnes.
Of this total some 376,267 tonnes were ferrous based PM products (no change over 2011) and 32,251 tonnes copper-based – up by 3.7%. Only Japan (4.4%), Korea (2.1%), India (3.2%) and Thailand (3.1%) posted gains in 2012 with China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore all lower than 2011.
Table 1 Application field ratio for PM production by country in 2012 (%)
(Courtesy JPMA)
The automotive sector continues to dominate applications for PM products in Asia with 92% of output in Japan going to this sector (Table 1).
The JPMA Annual Report 2012 also showed that PM production declined in Europe in 2012 but increased substantially in North America (Fig. 1) to regain levels of production last seen in 2006.
Fig. 1 PM Production by region (Source MPIF, EPMA, JPMA)
(North America & Europe based on shipments of Fe & Cu Powder for PM use)
(Courtesy JPMA)
News | Articles | Market reviews | Search directory | Subscribe to e-newsletter
