In April this year, Japan's seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased 0.2 percent from the previous month, while the original index indicated an increase of 12.9 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, in April the Japanese iron and steel production index increased 5.5 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index decreased 1.7 percent in April compared to March. Meanwhile, in April Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments rose by 2.1 percent and iron and steel inventories were down by 2.4 percent, both compared to the previous month.
In April, the seasonally adjusted crude steel production index including semi-finished steel in Japan increased by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month and was up by 8.5 percent on year-on-year basis. Producers' crude steel shipments in April were up by 13.1 percent compared to the previous month and up 15.7 percent compared to the same month last year.