Market Overview

The Japanese stationery and office supply market for FY2023 saw a 0.5% year-over-year decline, totaling 396.5 billion yen, based on manufacturer shipment values. Following a significant market contraction in FY2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the market continued to experience year-over-year declines from FY2021 to FY2023, indicating ongoing challenges for industry players.

While socioeconomic activities returned to normal in FY2023 after COVID-19 was reclassified as a Class 5 disease, the market is still grappling with several issues hindering demand recovery. These include the penetration of diverse workstyles, which has led to stagnant demand for office supplies, the push for digital transformation (DX) accelerating the shift to paperless offices, a decline in the student population (reducing the pool of stationery consumers) and the growing prevalence of digitalized school education (resulting in lower demand for traditional stationery).
Meanwhile, due to rising raw material and energy costs, many stationery and office supply manufacturers have increased product prices, which has helped maintain the overall market size.

Noteworthy Topics

Mechanical Pencils Market Thriving Even in Declination of Fertility Rates

In the mechanical pencil market, high-function, high-value-added products have gained strong popularity, particularly among junior and senior high school students, who are the primary users. These high-performance pencils are known for features like “consistently sharp lead points,” “lead breakage elimination,” and “automatic lead feeding.” Users have developed a culture of owning multiple mechanical pencils, switching between them based on location (school or cram school), subject, or lead size. With these advanced features and added value driving up unit prices, the mechanical pencil market is experiencing growth in terms of value, despite the overall decline in birthrates.


Moreover, many users have posted videos on platforms like YouTube, evaluating and showcasing the features of mechanical pencils from leading manufacturers. These videos are playing a key role in stimulating the market growth.

Future Outlook

The domestic stationery and office supply market for FY2024 is forecasted to decline by 0.6% from the previous fiscal year, attaining 393,975 million yen, based on the shipment value of manufacturers.
Although the writing instruments market is expected to see year-on-year growth, the paper and office supplies segment is anticipated to decline. As a result, the overall stationery and office supplies market is projected to shrink.

Research Outline