The Robotics Industry Association has found that North American orders for industrial robots fell 3.5% year over year in unit-terms for 1Q 2019. The dollar value of orders fell 3.2% year over year to reach $423 million. That follows a record year of orders in 2018 as a result of the wide-ranging tax cuts applied by the Trump administration in late 2017.

The modest rate of growth in orders came as U.S. seaborne for industrial robots rose by just 2.0% year over year in 1Q, Panjiva data shows. In April there’s likely been a downturn with imports having fallen by 3.8% year over year.

There was a 48.6% drop in imports from China, likely reflecting the imposition of tariffs, though at just 1.6% of the total imports it was far from the only driver.

There was also a 28.3% slump in imports from Japan – the largest source of U.S. robotics imports – while shipments from Germany dropped 34.7%.

Chart segments U.S. imports of industrial robots by origin.  Source: Panjiva

On a preliminary basis seaborne shipments suggest there was a further 5.6% year over year drop in imports in May. Among the major robotics importers to the U.S. the worst performer was Fanuc Corp. with a 41.0% drop in imports in 1Q, with the second quarter having opened with a 56.2% slide in April and May combined.

Sepro saw a similar drop with a 53.1% slide in 1Q and a 28.1% drop in 2Q so far. The fastest growing importer has been Yaskawa which grew by 110.6% year over year in 1Q and continued with a 121.3% improvement in the first two months of 2Q.

Chart segments U.S. seaborne imports of industrial robots by shipper including Fanuc, Sepro and Yaskawa on a rolling three month total basis. Fanuc shown on separate axis for clarity.  Source: Panjiva