TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry downgraded its industrial output assessment after January data came in below ministry forecasts for the seventh straight month, a ministry official said.
"After the seventh straight month of downgrades (in METI's forecasts) we see it see it is difficult to keep (our assessment of a) moderate rising trend in industrial output," he said. Industrial output in January fell 3.9 pct month-on-month after a rise of 1.8 pct in December.
"Industrial production is moving in a flat trend. It is necessary to monitor the outlook of industrial production due also to uncertainty over consumption," the ministry said in a statement.
The official noted January output was 3.2 percentage points lower than METI's forecast of 0.7 pct growth, attributing the decline in the month largely to falling exports, particularly of cars and electric devices, including micro-chips.
He said PC demand continues to be high but is lower than earlier expectations, with electric machinery output in January, including microchips and PCs, down 3.8 pct, compared with a rise of 0.6 pct in December.
PC output was down 13.1 pct month-on-month in January. Inventories of some microchips are rising due to lower-than-expected shipments, the official added.
Shipments of metal oxide semiconductor (Logic) integrated circuits were down 7.5 pct in January.
Transport equipment output was down 9.9 pct month-on-month, compared with a rise of 4.7 pct in December, due to a fall in exports, while inventories in the sector rose.