Industrial output in October fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.4 per cent from September, the fastest drop since May and greatly missing the median forecast for a 0.2 per cent rise in a Reuters survey.
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The index of output at factories and mines stood at 98.8 against the base of 100 in 2010, Xinhua cited the ministry as saying.
For all industries, which include the service and construction sectors, output was down 1.3 percent from the previous month but rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier.
Japan’s production overall is making “one step forward and one step back”, the ministry said. Demand for Japanese-made IT and electronic parts tends to pick up in the second half of the year, said SMBC Nikko economist Junichi Makino. While the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent inflation target remains elusive, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under pressure to rev up growth that has stagnated for decades, ordered his cabinet on Friday to compile an extra fiscal spending plan this fiscal year.
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That missed forecasts for an increase of 1.8 percent, although it was up from 1.1 percent in September. That downturn spurred the BoJ to sharply increase its already massive bond-buying programme – a cornerstone of Abenomics – effectively printing money to boost lending.
