Japan Industrial Production Falls As Estimated

(RTTNews) - Japan's industrial production decreased for the third straight month as initially estimated in January, the latest data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Wednesday.

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent month-on-month in January, following a revised 0.3 percent fall in December.

Shipments were down 1.0 percent monthly, and the inventory ratio fell 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, inventories showed an increase of 1.5 percent.

On a yearly basis, industrial production recovered to 2.2 percent in January, revised downwardly from 2.6 percent, after falling 2.2 percent in December.

Data also showed that the capacity utilization rate climbed 4.5 percent monthly in January, much faster than the 0.1 percent rebound in the prior month.