Booming Southeast Asia lifts Komatsu profits to pre-pandemic heights

Cheaper, more targeted machinery expands company's reach in Indonesia

20220131N Komatsu

Facing growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals like Sany Heavy Industry, Komatsu released lower-priced excavators in Southeast Asia in the summer of 2021.

YASUFUMI TSUGE, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- With new infrastructure investments and soaring commodities prices driving demand for heavy machinery, Komatsu's particular focus on the Southeast Asian market is helping propel the company's earnings to pre-pandemic levels.

"Relatively profitable strategic markets, like Southeast Asia, are driving profits up," Chief Financial Officer Takeshi Horikoshi told reporters Monday. The Japanese company that day announced that its net profit more than doubled on the year to 155.5 billion yen ($1.35 billion) in the April-December period, topping its full-year result from fiscal 2019, before the global spread of COVID-19. Total revenue climbed 33% to 2.01 trillion yen.

Sponsored Content

About Sponsored ContentThis content was commissioned by Nikkei's Global Business Bureau.