Industrial production in Japan rose by 0.6 percent month-over-month in April 2019, following a 0.6 percent fall in the previous month and matching a preliminary estimate and market expectations. Output rebounded for fabricated metals (3 percent vs -4.4 percent in March); production machinery (5.2 percent vs -6.2 percent); business-oriented machinery (1 percent vs -0.7 percent); transport equipment (4.1 percent vs -2.5 percent); and motor vehicles (3.1 percent vs -2.5 percent). Also, output increased further for information & communications electronic equipment (10.7 percent vs 3.8 percent). In contrast, production fell for general-purpose machinery (-8.2 percent vs 5.9 percent); electronic parts & devices (-7.6 percent vs 5.8 percent); electrical machinery (-1.7 percent vs flat reading); and chemicals (-2.3 percent vs 2.8 percent). On a yearly basis, factory output dropped 1.1 percent in April, after a 4.3 percent fall in March. Industrial Production Mom in Japan averaged 0.40 percent from 1953 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 6.80 percent in May of 2011 and a record low of -16.50 percent in March of 2011.
Industrial Production Mom in Japan is expected to be -0.20 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Industrial Production Mom in Japan to stand at -0.30 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Japan Industrial Production MoM is projected to trend around 0.10 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.