Industrial output up 0.6% in Nov.

December 28, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's industrial production in November grew 0.6 percent from the previous month, up for the second straight month, led by export growth on robust overseas economies, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted production index for the manufacturing and mining sectors stood at 103.6 against 100 for the base year of 2010. In the previous month, the index was up 0.5 percent.

The November result slightly outpaced a median forecast of a 0.5 percent rise in a Jiji Press poll of 21 economic research institutes.

Reflecting the latest result, the ministry upgraded its basic assessment of industrial production, saying that production is "picking up," a view last adopted in December 1995. For the 12 months through October, it maintained the view that industrial production showed "picking-up movement."

Since the beginning of this year, the industrial production index has repeatedly hit levels as high as when demand surged ahead of the April 2014 consumption tax hike.

"Backed by demand related to corporate equipment investment, momentum that was not seen in the last few years is sustained," said an official of the ministry's survey and statistics group, explaining the reason for the upgrade.

Production grew in 10 of the 15 industry sectors covered in the data, with that of general-purpose, production and professional-use machines, including chipmaking equipment, up 3.1 percent and that of electronic components and devices, including semiconductors, up 4.3 percent.

Of the five declining sectors, the chemical engineering sector, including beauty essence and milky lotion makers, logged an output fall of 1.7 percent.

The industrial shipment index rose 2.4 percent to 101.3, while the inventory index fell 1.0 percent to 109.6, the survey report also showed.

Production at manufacturers is expected to increase 3.4 percent in December and decline 4.5 percent in January. Jiji Press