Japan’s ELVs increasingly bound for overseas markets

Asia – Japanese recyclers have been forced to respond to a growing number of hybrid and electric cars at a time when acquiring end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) has become far more difficult for them because of the many used vehicles now exported to overseas markets, principally as a consequence of the weaker yen.

Many of the country′s ELVs are now going to auto auctions and are then exported; indeed, overseas shipments of used vehicles have increased to 1.3 million units a year. ′It is going to become a crisis,′ the executive of a recycled parts group has said. In the main, relatively new used vehicles are going to auto auctions, thus making it difficult for recyclers to put in successful bids because such vehicles go at high prices.

According to statistics released by the Japan Automobile Recycling Promotion Center (JARC), ELV acquisitions totalled 1.7 million units in April-September 2014, up 2.1% from a year earlier. Despite the increase, the figure was not as high as the centre had anticipated in the wake of a surge in demand for new cars prior to Japan′s consumption tax hike in April last year.

The JARC had previously forecast a full-year total of 3.4 million ELVs for this fiscal year but now says ′it may fall below the 3.3 million unit mark′. The rising cost of transporting recycled parts is also putting pressure on recyclers′ earnings and could damage their competitive position in relation to new parts.

For more information, visit: www.jarc.or.jp/en/recycling