Japan's industrial output rose 1.3 percent in June, with production machinery up 7.6 percent and electronic parts and devices down 6.3 percent
Two lines in the same table moved in opposite directions.
Japan's index of industrial production rose 1.3 percent in June from May, to 103.9 against a 2020 base of 100, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in the preliminary report published on Friday morning in Tokyo. It was the third consecutive monthly rise. Measured against June last year, the unadjusted index was 4.2 percent higher.
The largest increase by industry was production machinery, up 7.6 percent on the month and 9.2 percent on the year. The items METI names as contributing are semiconductor production equipment, wheeled tractors and machining centres. The largest decrease was electronic parts and devices, down 6.3 percent on the month and 0.6 percent on the year, where the named items are MOS memory integrated circuits, electronic circuit boards and MOS logic integrated circuits.
So the equipment that makes chips and the chips themselves went different ways in the same month. The release attributes no cause to either.
The rest of the release
Shipments fell 0.4 percent to 101.1, the first decline in three months. Inventories rose 2.3 percent to 97.1, the first rise in four, and remain 2.7 percent below a year earlier, a 17th consecutive annual decline. The inventory ratio rose 2.3 percent to 104.7, a second consecutive increase.
Electrical and information and communication machinery rose 5.8 percent, general purpose and business machinery 4.7 percent, and motor vehicles 1.1 percent. Transport equipment other than motor vehicles rose 1.3 percent on the month and 20.0 percent on the year, with marine diesel engines and aircraft body parts named as contributors. Iron, steel and non-ferrous metals fell 0.4 percent on the month while remaining 2.1 percent higher on the year. Inorganic and organic chemicals rose 2.6 percent on the month but sat 8.1 percent below a year earlier, the sharpest annual fall among the industries that gained on the month.
METI's own summary judgement is that production is going back and forth rather than moving in one direction.
What the makers expect next
The forecast survey of manufacturers, conducted in July, expects production to rise 1.2 percent in July and a further 4.5 percent in August. METI attributes the July figure to chemicals, production machinery and electronic parts and devices, and the August figure to production machinery, electrical and information and communication machinery, and iron, steel and non-ferrous metals.
Electronic parts and devices, the industry that fell hardest in June, is among those the survey expects to lift the month after.
