Industrial output logs 1st fall in 4 months in Jan.

February 28, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's industrial production in January fell 6.6 percent from the previous month, the first drop in four months, prompting the industry ministry to lower its assessment of production activity for the first time in 29 months, a government report showed Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted production index for the manufacturing and mining sectors stood at 99.5 against 100 for the base year of 2010, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. In the previous month, the index was up 2.9 percent.

The January result compared with a median forecast of a 4.percent drop among 21 economic research institutes surveyed by Jiji Press.

The ministry revised down its assessment of industrial production for the first time since August 2015, saying that production "is picking up slowly."

The previous assessment said that production was "picking up," after an upward revision in November last year.

It is undeniable that the upward momentum of industrial production has weakened slightly even if the impact of the recent growth is excluded, a ministry official said.

Output dropped in all of the 15 industry sectors covered by the ministry survey.

Production of transport equipment, including passenger cars, plunged 14.1 percent due to sluggish exports to North America.

After reaching high levels the previous month, output fell for general-purpose, production and business-oriented machinery as well as electronic devices and parts, such as semiconductors.

The industrial shipment index stood at 98.3, down 5.6 percent, while the inventory index dropped 0.6 percent to 108.8.

Production at manufacturers is expected to increase 9.0 percent in February and decline 2.7 percent in March, according to the ministry. Jiji Press