Japan, USA, Republic of Korea and Germany represent 50% of the global robot market

Published:2014-08-11    Source:HICG

Japan was the second largest market regarding annual sales, but it still has, by far, the highest number of industrial robots in operation, more than 300,000 units. It is the most automated country in the world. Japan is the predominant robot manufacturing country. More than half of the global robot supply of 2013 was produced by Japanese companies. In 2013, sales of industrial robots decreased by 9% to about 26,000 units due to reduced investments of the automotive and the electronics industries in Japan. However, exports of Japanese robots increased.

Robot installations in the United States continued to increase by 6% to the peak level of almost 24,000 units. Between 2008 and 2013, annual sales in the United Sates increased by 12% on average per year. Driver of this growth was the ongoing trend to automate production in order to strengthen American industries on the global market and to keep manufacturing at home, and in some cases, bringing back manufacturing that had previously been sent overseas.

In 2013, Robot sales to the Republic of Korea increased by 10% to more than 21,000 units due to increased investments of the automotive industry. The electronics industry which is the main customer of industrial robots in Korea, reduced its robot orders.

Robot sales to the German market were 4% higher in 2013 compared to 2012 and reached more than 18,000 units, the second highest level ever recorded. The automotive industry was again the driver for the growth. Between 2008 and 2013, robot sales to Germany increased by 4% on average.

These four markets represent 50% of the sales volume in 2013.

There was a considerable increase of robot installations in other Asian markets especially in Taiwan (Province of China), India and Indonesia. Also, important European markets such as Italy and Spain started to recover. Robot installations in Central and Eastern European countries as well as in Mexico and Canada continued to increase considerably. The robot market in Brazil lagged behind expectations.