In January this year, Japan's industrial production increased one percent over the previous month, showing a month-on-month increase for the second consecutive month, and reaching the August 2012 level. Japan's industrial output showed a decrease of 5.1 percent from January in the previous year, according to the preliminary indices of the Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The main industries which contributed to the month-on-month increase in January were respectively transport equipment and iron and steel. The Japanese iron and steel production index in the month in question decreased by 1.2 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index rose 6.6 percent in January compared to December last year. Meanwhile, in January Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments rose by 2.2 percent and iron and steel inventories were up by 1.4 percent, both compared to the previous month.
On the other hand, according to the ministry's preliminary Current Survey of Production report, in January this year Japan produced 7 million mt of pig iron, up 6.8 percent, 87,155 mt of ferroalloys, up 5.9 percent, 8.86 million mt of crude steel, up 2.7 percent, and 8.7 million mt of semi-finished steel, up 3.4 percent, all compared to January 2012.
According to the ministry's Survey of Production Forecast in Manufacturing, Japanese industrial production is expected to increase by 5.3 percent in February and by 0.3 percent in March, both month on month.