In June this year, Japan's seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased 3.1 percent from the previous month, while the original index indicated a decrease of 4.6 percent compared to the same month last year.
According to the revised Indices of Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), in June the Japanese iron and steel production index decreased 3.2 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index fell 3.8 percent in June compared to May. Meanwhile, in June Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments fell by 5.4 percent and iron and steel inventories were up by 4.4 percent, both compared to the previous month. On year-on-year basis, the producers' iron and steel shipments fell by 3.6 percent, while iron and steel inventories in Japan were up by 13.9 percent in June.
In the month in question, the seasonally adjusted crude steel production index including semi-finished steel in Japan decreased by 4.9 percent compared to the previous month and was up by 1.1 percent on year-on-year basis. Producers' crude steel shipments in June were down by 4.2 percent compared to the previous month and down 4.8 percent compared to the same month last year.