In January this year, Japan's seasonally adjusted industrial production increased 1.9 percent from the previous month, showing a month-on-month increase for the fourth consecutive month, while it indicated a decrease of 1.3 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 January Japanese iron and steel production decreased 7.3 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production increased 5.9 percent in January, compared to December 2011. Meanwhile, in January Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments rose by 0.8 percent and iron and steel inventories were up by 1.6 percent, both compared to the previous month.
In January, seasonally adjusted crude steel production including semi-finished steel in Japan increased by 5.6 percent compared to the previous month and was down by 10.3 percent on year-on-year basis. Producers' crude steel shipments in January were up by 13.9 percent compared to the previous month and down 14.3 percent compared to the same month last year.