Estimation of Export Volume for End-of-Life Vehicles from Japan

Abstract

In order to get the current picture on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) leaving Japan internationally, this paper defines three types of international export categories : business export, holding export, and other. Using trade statistics provided by Japanese customhouses, an attempt was made to estimate the volume of ELVs exported from Japan as used vehicles, used parts, and secondary materials for each category of export between the years 1988 and 2005. The results of this estimation showed that the volume of Japanese ELV exports increased by more than 3 times, from 863000 tons in 1995 to 2635000 tons in 2000. Furthermore, the paper determines that used vehicle rates were 51-63% ; used part rates were 36-48% ; and secondary material rates were always 1% for ELVs during this time period. About 15-34% of the ELVs from Japan were holding exports and other exports, data that is not easily obtained from trade statistics.