Quarterly Survey of Overseas Subsidiaries

1. Turnover Inside/Outside Japan and Domestic Sales/Local Sales Overseas

• The total sales turnover of head office companies was 40,710.2 billion yen, a decrease of 0.4% from the same quarter of the previous year. There were decreases in 7 sectors, and transportation machinery had a particularly large influence.
  The sales turnover of overseas local corporations, on the other hand, increased by 8.1% to 8,958.5 billion yen. By region, the increase in North America made the largest contribution, while the only region that decreased was ASEAN 4. There were increases in 10 sectors, including transportation machinery and electrical machinery.
  The sales turnover in the NIES 3 countries increased from the same quarter of the previous year due to the increased sales turnover in Taiwan, where local corporations are heavily concentrated.
• Viewing prospects for the first quarter of 1998 in terms of a DI comparison with the previous quarter, the proportion of head office companies that forecast an increase in sales turnover has fallen greatly (from +13.2 to -2.6). The only sector that made a notable increase was general machinery. The proportion of overseas local corporations that forecast an increase has also fallen greatly overall (from 35.9 to 26.5), decreasing in all regions except for North America, where the prospects are on a par.
• The value of local sales (*2) by overseas local corporations in all regions was 5,196.5 billion yen, increasing by 8.9% from the same quarter of the previous year. In prospects for the first quarter of 1998, the proportion of local corporations that forecast an increase from the previous quarter decreased in all regions.
• The overseas production ratio (*3) was 22.0%, increasing 1.7 points due to growth in sales turnover by overseas local corporations compared to the same quarter of the previous year.