In February this year, Japan's industrial production decreased 0.1 percent from the previous month, showing a month-on-month decrease for the first month in three months. Japan's industrial output showed a decrease of 11 percent from February in the previous year, according to the preliminary indices of the Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The Japanese iron and steel production index in the month in question decreased by 6.2 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index rose 2.1 percent in February compared to January. Meanwhile, in February Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments rose by 5.8 percent and iron and steel inventories were down by 0.8 percent, both compared to the previous month.
On the other hand, according to the ministry's preliminary Current Survey of Production report, in February this year Japan produced 3.36 million mt of pig iron, down 9.6 percent, 76,794 mt of ferroalloys, down 11.8 percent, 8.3 million mt of crude steel, down 6.1 percent, and 8.1 million mt of semi-finished steel, down 6.3 percent, all compared to January.
According to the ministry's Survey of Production Forecast in Manufacturing, Japanese industrial production has bottomed out and shows some signs of picking up. The production is expected to increase by one percent in March and by 0.6 percent in April, both month on month.