Japan’s Core Machinery Orders Fall 9.4 Pct in March

Tokyo, May 21 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in March fell 9.4 pct from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said Thursday. The private-sector orders excluding those for ships and power equipment, closely watched as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, dropped to 1,010.9 billion yen after the previous month’s jump driven by large-scale orders. The government kept unchanged its basic assessment that machinery orders are showing signs of picking up. “There’s not a movement from which we can clearly discern the influence of the Middle East situation,” a Cabinet Office official said. Machinery orders from manufacturers declined 14.2 pct to 488.4 billion yen, and core orders from nonmanufacturers slipped 6.0 pct to 534.3 billion yen. Orders from some manufacturing sectors, including the nonferrous metal industry, turned lower after soaring thanks to large-scale projects the previous month. Total machinery orders, including those from the public sector and abroad, climbed 4.3 pct to 3,906.6 billion yen. In the January-March period, core machinery orders increased 6.4 pct from the previous quarter to 3,109.2 billion yen, marking growth for the second consecutive quarter. For April-June, a smaller increase of 0.3 pct is expected. In fiscal 2025, core orders rose 8.6 pct from the previous year to 11,587.5 billion yen, the highest level since the start of data comparable under the current format in fiscal 2006. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]