In December last year, Japan's industrial production increased by 1.1 percent from November and rose by 7.3 percent from December 2012, according to the preliminary indices of the Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
In December last year, the Japanese iron and steel production index increased by 10 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index rose 1.5 percent compared to November. Meanwhile, in December year Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments decreased by 1.2 percent and iron and steel inventories were down by five percent, both compared to November.
On the other hand, according to the ministry's preliminary Current Survey of Production report, in December last year Japan produced 7.03 million mt of pig iron, up five percent, 9.34 million mt of crude steel, up 9.1 percent, and 9.12 million mt of semi-finished steel, up 8.6 percent, all compared to December 2012.
According to the ministry's Survey of Production Forecast in Manufacturing, Japanese industrial production is expected to increase by 6.1 percent in January and by 0.3 percent in February, both month on month. Meanwhile, Japanese iron and steel production is expected to increase by 0.4 percent in January and to decrease by 0.2 percent in February, both month on month.