Japan Industrial Output Falls As Estimated

(RTTNews) - Japan's industrial production decreased as initially estimated at the end of the year, final data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Monday.

Industrial production dropped 0.1 percent monthly in December, much slower than the 2.7 percent decline in November. That was in line with the flash data published earlier.

Shipments contracted 1.6 percent over the month, while inventories logged an increase of 0.9 percent. Data showed that the inventory ratio rose by 1.6 percent.

On an annual basis, industrial production rebounded 2.6 percent versus a 2.2 percent fall in the prior month.

Further, data showed that capacity utilization rose 1.3 percent, in contrast to a 5.3 percent decrease a month ago.