Japan’s December 2021 core machinery orders fell month-on-month

According to data released by the Cabinet Office on 18th, the seasonally adjusted core machinery order volume in December 2018 was 862.6 billion yen (1 yen about 0.009 US dollars), down 0.1% from the previous month, due to a significant month-on-month decline in machinery orders in the oil and coal products industry.

The data show that the order value of manufacturing machinery in the month was 361.8 billion yen, a decrease of 8.5% from the previous month; the order value of non-manufacturing machinery was 496.6 billion yen, an increase of 6.8% from the previous month.

The Cabinet Office expects that it will be difficult for machinery orders to increase significantly in the future, so the basic situation judgment is lowered from the previous “signs of stagnation in the recovery trend” to “signs of stagnation”.

In addition, in December last year, total machinery orders, including government and public agency demand and external demand, totaled 2.32 trillion yen, a decrease of 18.6% from the previous month.

Also announced on the same day was the machinery orders for 2018, which amounted to 10.51 trillion yen, an increase of 3.6% over the previous year.

Japan’s machinery order statistics are based on the results of the Japanese government’s survey of 280 domestic manufacturing companies, reflecting the equipment investment trends of Japanese companies in the next 6 to 9 months, and are an important leading indicator of Japan’s private equipment investment.