Bull s
JK Holdings
Quarterly Report

December,2020
CONTENTSInternational

P160No.

Impact of the outbreak of Covid-19
and the company policies

P2

Prospect of Business Conditionfor October − December

P3

Market Outlook Plywood
JK Timber Engineering Group s Projects
Tokyo Metropolitan Archives (KEYTEC Co., Ltd.)P4

JK Holdings formulates basic policy for
SDGs

Impact of the outbreak of Covid-19
and the company policies
The threat of the pandemic of Covid-19 is undiminishing, andthe number of cases is showing an increasing trend in Japan
since the state of emergency was lifted. The housing industry,
which is our main market, is also facing uncertainty due to theKeiichiro Aoki

President
JK Holdings Co.,Ltd.

combination of an aging population with a declining birthrate,setting “Catch the certain signs of change, Take steady moves,a deteriorating socioeconomic environment, and the eﬀects ofand Do what we can” as a guide, which is the theme of ourthe Covid-19 disaster.

groupʼs mid-term business plan “Breakthrough 21”.

Under these circumstances JK Holdings Group made newFeature policies include extension of non-housing business-policies to prevent loss of operational eﬃciency and is taking

es, which are represented by middle- and large-scale wooden

infection prevention measures such as work from home, stag-construction, change to wooden interior and exterior, andgered commuting, on-line systems to avoid congestion andPark-PFI (private ﬁnance initiative). Featuring the ﬂexibility

reviewing traditional door-to-door sales or face-to-face meet-

and the warmth of wood, and using our diversiﬁed processing

ings, and responds to rapid changes in the work environment.

techniques and eagerness for higher ﬁre-resistance, we will
create new demand for wooden construction and develop its

In addition, to keep up with the changes in the housing in-new applications.

dustry, JK Holdings Group is working on concrete measures
Japan Kenzai Co., Ltd., our core business, is planning to
break away from the dependence on housing starts as well as
stimulate and respond to the potential demand in the market.
Speciﬁcally, it will prepare for becoming its customersʼ best
partner by reorganizing the industrial materials sales structure
by region, which was based on business ﬁelds with specialsales departments and general distribution departments fordealers, and combining the knowledge and networks we havecultivated in our respective ﬁelds.
In the business side, it will steadily update an environment of
hardware, networks, the groupware and other things. At thesame time, it is developing systems which will contribute tostreamline the sales sector, upgrade business activities, andmake administrative tasks eﬃcient.

Bulls International No.60

2Surveybuilders (contractors and other building companies) and that of minus 66.7
points among distributors. The index
remained almost the same since thelast survey, which did not get lower
than the level of minus 77.0 points, theworst record after the Lehman Brothers
collapse.

Prospect of BusinessCondition for
October-December<Demand Forecast byBuilders and Distributors><Survey Results on theCoronavirus Impact>

Japanʼs GDP for April to June 2020
announced by the Cabinet Oﬃce
showed a drop of 27.8%, exceeding therecord annual rate of minus 17.8% after
the global ﬁnancial crisis due to thefailure of Lehman Brothers. Personal
consumption also fell 8.2%. Housing
investment, however, was relatively
less aﬀected with a decline of 0.2%,
showing that housing demand remainedﬁrm.

How is the construction work affected?
While the most common response is“delay in construction period”, “cancellation of contract” as the second-largest
response increased from the previous
survey, raising concerns over a market
shift to cancellations.
What is the impact on your businessactivities?
“Not using online tools” was cited by
70% of the respondents, indicating thatmost of the companies surveyed have
limited use of online
tools.

The demand forecast survey for October to December 2020 shows an indexof minus 65.4 points among small
Demand Forecast by Builders
1010000.3 1.0 5.1 2.0-10 -5.7-10-20-20-30-30-40-40-50-50-60
-60
-70
-70
-80
-80Oct-Dec
Apr-JunOct-Dec
2018

2019

2019

-7.3
-18.3

-65.4

What is the status ofthe contract?
Nearly 70% of therespondents answeredthat “the number is de-

As to deferment of work, more thanhalf of the respondents answered that it
would be postponed until November toJanuary. But some are even until afterFebruary and the impact is expected tobe prolonged.
Regarding support measures
More than 30% replied that they were
supported by the “Subsidy Program for
Sustaining Businesses” from the government, showing many businesses use
subsidies that do not require repayment.
The response indicates that some ofthe surveyed companies experienced ayear-on-year decrease of 50% or morein some months in their business income.

<Sales Forecast by Leading
Manufacturers>
Among the sales forecast by leading
manufacturers, some of the respondents
in this survey except plywood manufacturers predicted an increase, after all thesectors predicted zero point for growthin the previous survey.

The forecast survey for October to December 2020 is based on the totaled
data gathered from 3,000 client companies in Japan through the Internet,
which took place from late-July to mid-August 2020.

-67
Apr-Jun2020

creasing” in both new construction andremodeling projects, but around 25%
answered “the same as usual”. A few responded that the number is increasing.

Oct-Dec
2020

Point0=business result in April-June,1992

Dealing Volume of Lumber

Demand Forecast by Distributors
2010065

9.2-3.7
1.9-10

1.960

-6.4

4.955

-15.4

-20

50-30-40

Laminated lumber
Solid lumber
Precut lumber
LVL

45-50-60-68.6-70-80 Oct-Dec
2018

Apr-Jun2019

Oct-Dec
2019

Apr-Jun2020

40-66.7

35 Oct-Dec

Oct-Dec
2020

2018

Apr-Jun2019

Oct-Dec
2019

Apr-Jun2020

Oct-Dec
2020

Point100=all responses expect increase

Point0=business result in April-June,1992

Sales Forecast by Major Supplying Manufacturers（Oct-Dec 2020）
increaselevel-offdecreaseover15％14 ～ 10％

below10％

below10％10 ～ 14％

over15％0.0

0.0

0.00.0

16.7

25.0

58.3

6.3

0.0

0.0

0.0

37.5

49.9

6.3

5.0

0.0

5.0

5.0

25.0

30.0

30.0

House Equipments（9firms）

4.8

0.0

0.0

9.5

42.9

23.8

19.0

average

4.0

0.0

1.3

3.6

30.5

32.2

28.4

Plywood（13firms）
Wooden Building Materials（10firms）
Ceramic/Heat Insulation（15firms）

International No.60

Trend
Market Outlookof Plywood<Trend of Domestic Plywood>
Japanʼs production of softwood plywood was 240,300 cubic meters in September 2020 (92.1% of the result in thesame month of the previous year), andthe shipment of this item was 247,446
cubic meters (90.5%). Its inventories
decreased for the fourth straight monthwith 136,686 cubic meters (94.4%).
Domestic plywood manufacturers
are continuing production adjustment
including production curtailment. Some
items have gradually become scarcefrom this October. Immediate delivery
is already impossible, and an increased
number of makers require some time toinform the delivery dates.
Shipment to precut factories is continuing to be brisk, and that through general
distribution routes has recently caught
up with the trend. For the time being,
the shipment is expected to be stable.
As the supply-demand balance is kept
owing to the early production adjustment, some leading manufactures arewatching for an opportunity to return

their prices.

<Trend of Imported Plywood>
The volume of imported plywood wasat an all-time low in September 2020
with 134,600 cubic meters (72.1% of
the result in the same period of the previous year). It has ﬁnally gone below
the 150,000 cubic meter mark. Looking at the result by country of origin,the amount of imports from Malaysia
was 42,990 cubic meters (79.8%), thatfrom Indonesia was 43,600 cubic meters (62.0%), and that from China was35,300 cubic meters (76.0%).

Bulls

As hand-to-mouth buying by importers
has been continued, port inventories
are decreasing with some items out ofstock. The tide of the market appears tobegin to change, and the prices is showing the sign of increase. New prices
will gradually be accepted.
It is hard to expect that the number ofships to arrive the ports will drasticallyincrease over the end of the year andthe New Year, and the business will
likely keep steady for the time being.

Wholesalers' Prices of Plywood in Tokyo

yen/sheet

Imported Plywood（Structural Use）
Imported Plywood（Concrete Form）
Domestic Plywood［Softwood Plywood for Structural Use(12mm)］
Domestic Plywood［Softwood Plywood for Structural Use(24mm)］

2500

2000

1500

1000

5000

Mar 2020

Jun 2020

Jul 2020

Aug 2020

Sep 2020

Oct 2020Topics

JK Timber Engineering Group’s Projects
Tokyo Metropolitan Archives（KEYTEC Co., Ltd.）“KEYLAM Interior”, LVL for interioruse, manufactured by KEYTEC wasadopted in the building of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Archives, which has
moved to Kokubunji City, Tokyo. The
building, located in a site of about 6,000
square meters, is steel reinforced concrete (SRC) structured with three stories
above ground and a one-story structure
built on the roof. The total ﬂoor area is10,259 square meters.
LVL made of Japanese cedar grown in
the Tama Area of Tokyo (on a productbasis of 129 cubic meters) is used on
the interior walls from the entrance tothe reading room in the back on theﬁrst ﬂoor. “KEYLAM Interior” with its
distinctive striped patterns of laminatedveneer on the surface has createda stylish and futuristic space, which
would hardly be produced with solid
wooden materials. Tama wood will
be actively used as part of the Tokyo

Metropolitan Governmentʼs eﬀorts topromote forestry as well as to prevent
hay fever. We would like to put aneﬀort into applying it in other building
projects.

34Bulls International No.60

CompanyJK Holdings formulates basic policy for SDGs

JK Holdings formulated its basic policy
for the sustainable development goals(SDGs) in April 2020. There is proliferation of issues that must be resolved
over the long term, such as global
environmental problems and worseningeconomic balance. The housing industry, our main market, also has many
issues to cope with, including the shortage of workers due to the declining
birthrate and aging population, smaller
number of housing starts, and stricter
environmental regulations. To resolve

JK Holdings SDGs Initiative Image “Think about the Earth and Life”

these issues through the businesses ofJK Holdings, we have identiﬁed three

our lives, and our business manage-

Japan Kenzai Co., Ltd. and other groupmost important issues as our company

ment. In light of this business environ-companies have identiﬁed important

Materiality, and are working to achievement, we regard global environmental

issues and SDGs targets to resolvethese targets by 2030.

issues as one of our most importantthe above mentioned three materiality

management issues and have estab-issues by 2030, formulating and imple-

1. With People

lished an “Environmental Policy”. We

menting basic strategies. These initia-

JK Holdings will promote sustain-

also have established a “JK Holdings

tives, implemented mainly in business-able growth of the businesses throughGroup Basic Procurement Policy fores related to “life” will lead to creation

the growth/development and higherWood” to aim for sustainable procure-of a sustainable social environment andmotivation of its employees with thement of forest resources in our businesspursuit of our corporate philosophy ofAction Guidelines for Employees “Ju-domain.

“Creating a comfortable and rich homedo” (JAPAN WAY). At the same time,environment”.

in addition to the sales of goods, which

3. With Society

is our main role as a distributor, we

The declining birthrate and aging pop-aim to provide human resource support

ulation are becoming more serious infor the sustainable management of ourJapan. The population has been concen-clients in the ﬁelds we are involved

trated in urban areas, whereas the aging

with through our management support,

and declining population has been

engineering functions, and information

accelerated in rural areas as challenges.

service business.

The JK Holdings Group aims to revitalize local communities by leveraging

2. With the Earthits organizational capabilities throughDestruction of the global environment

cooperation with its business bases andcauses various kinds of pollution andcommunity-based businesses, which areglobal warming, which will have a ma-strengths of our group.

Wood and Plywood Museum

jor impact on the life cycle of the earth,
For details, please refer to the special page at the JK Holdings website, “Think about the Earth and Life”(https://www.jkhd.co.jp/sdgs/).

Wood Land Tower 1-7-22 Shinkiba Koto-ku,Tokyo 136-8405 Japan
Phone +81-3-5534-3800 Fax +81-3-5534-3833
E-mail kouhou@jkhd.co.jp
URL http://www.jkhd.co.jp
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