Japan: Industrial output growth improves in December
Industrial output grew 0.3% in month-on-month seasonally-adjusted terms in December, which was above November’s 0.2% increase. Looking at the details of the release, manufacturing production growth softened in December, and the drop in mining output worsened.
On an annual basis, industrial output fell at a more pronounced rate of 2.4% in December (November: -0.9% yoy), the worst result since June. Accordingly, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of industrial production coming in at minus 0.1% in December, contrasting November’s plus 0.3% reading.