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Japan's industrial output suffers record drop

AFP, Tokyo
Japanese industrial output dropped a record 10.2 percent in the year to March due to the global economic slowdown and particularly the plunge in demand for information technology products, the government said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it was the steepest decline in production since comparable data was first compiled in 1953, and marked the first fall in three years.
The previous record drop in output was in the year to March 1975 in the aftermath of the recession sparked by the OPEC-led rise in oil prices following the 1973 Yom Kippur war in the Middle East.
"The output was sharply down because demand for electronic devices including semiconductors
and IT-related products dropped," a ministry official said of the latest data.
Industrial shipments fell 9.7 percent and inventories declined 8.0 percent during the year to March , the ministry said.
But there were signs of improvement from the output figure for March alone, which rose 0.5 percent from the previous month, while the government forecast firm output in April and May on the back of a US economic recovery.
Output in March rose in monthon-month terms for the second straight month after rising a revised 1.2 percent in February, the ministry said.
Industrial shipments edged up 0.7 percent in the month while inventories fell 2.2 percent, the ministry said.
"Output is gradually recovering,
thanks to gains in exports, mainly to the United States," said Shinichiro Kobayashi, economist at UFJ Institute and Consulting Ltd.
"In March alone, output of IT-related products and motor vehicles rose, underpinning overall output," Kobayashi said.
Semiconductor production grew 15.2 percent month-on-month and output of mobile phones jumped 22.2 percent in March. The number of cars produced rose 5.9 percent with truck output up 9.0 percent, the ministry said.
"Japanese output currently depends on US-bound exports as the US economy is starting to show signs of a recovery," the economist said.
The government forecast April industrial production would grow 1.3 percent from March with May's
output seen up 3.1 percent.
Japan's industrial output was set on a recovery track, said Hidehiko Fujii, senior economist at Japan Research Institute.
"We can say the worst is over for industrial output," said Fujii.
"But its recovery is still fragile. We are not at the stage where Japanese factories are operating at maximum capacity," he said.
A ministry official said the pick-up was narrowly based.
Some products in the electronics sector which have started to show some signs of recovery but this had not spread to other sectors, the official said.
"It is still uncertain how strong this recovery is," he said, adding weak Japanese domestic demand would put pressure on industrial output.