Japan Lead Batteries Sales Plunge by 40%

Japanese production of lead acid batteries is decreasing. The production of batteries for automobile, which excluding motorcycle, decreased by 38.4% to 1.398 million units or decreased by 41.6% to 10,396 tonnes in lead tonnage in January from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The year-to-year decline rate for the production grew from 13.2% in October 2008, 27.3% in November and 25.7% in December.

New car sales plunged since the end of last year. Lead acid batteries sales for new car declined significantly when the car makers reduced the output to less than 50%. The sales of batteries for repair, which are approximately same volume as battery for new car, were also low despite of the the demand season in winter.

One major batteries maker reduced the output by more than 20% in December and by over 30% in January from a year earlier. However, the demand was dropping more in and after February. The maker currently seems to decrease the production by more than 40% from a year earlier or more than 50% compared with output capacity.