The downtrend of Japan’s automobile production caused the country’s factory output and its outlook to fall in November.
Data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Thursday that Japan’s industrial production dropped by 0.9% MoM in November, though the contraction was lower than the expected median market forecast of negative 1.6%.
The motor vehicle production and the output in the electrical machinery and information and communication electronics equipment sectors decreased by 2.5% MoM in November and 3.5%, respectively, as the unfavorable circumstances were due to the drop in the manufacturing of small cars and engines and the low demand of semiconductor and integrated-circuit testing equipment.
METI stated that it will keep watching the global economic downturn and inflation, as it preserved the evaluation of the industrial output as seesawing, while manufacturers expect a 6% rise of the seasonally adjusted output in December and a drop down by 7.2% in January.
Moreover, the pause of Daihatsu, Toyota Motor’s small car-unit, production is anticipated to add more pressure on the output in January, as the company revealed that it has delayed the output in Japan until the end of next month.
The data showed that Japanese retail sales grew by 5.3% YoY in November, above the median market forecast of 5% gain. The retail sales also rose by 1% in November MoM after the 1.7% slump in October.
In addition, the METI also expected the outlook of semiconductor production to slowly recover.
