Japan: Industrial production contracts again in August
Latest reading: Industrial production was down 1.5% on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis in August, after declining 1.2% in the previous month. August’s decline was the sharpest since November 2024.
Relative to the prior month’s data, readings in August worsened for manufacturing (-0.9% in month-on-month terms vs -1.0% in July) and mining (+1.6% vs +3.2% in July). The main subsectors driving the decline were electrical machinery, ICT equipment, fabricated metals and inorganic and organic chemicals.
In annual terms, industrial production fell 1.6% in August, following a 0.4% decline in the prior month.