In August this year, Japan's seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased 1.6 percent from the previous month, while the original index indicated a decrease of 4.6 percent compared to the same month last year. The country’s seasonally adjusted industrial production had been trending down since March this year. An increase on month-on-month basis was recorded in June, followed by decreases in both July and August.
According to the revised Indices of Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in August the Japanese iron and steel production index decreased 0.1 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index remained unchanged in August compared to July. Meanwhile, in August Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments fell by 4.7 percent and iron and steel inventories were up by 0.7 percent, both compared to the previous month.
In August, the seasonally adjusted crude steel production index including semi-finished steel in Japan increased by 1.3 percent compared to the previous month and was up by 3.6 percent on year-on-year basis. Producers' crude steel shipments in August were down by 8.1 percent compared to the previous month and down one percent compared to the same month last year.