Japan's Industrial Production Falls, Retail Sales Growth Improves

(RTTNews) - Japan's industrial production decreased for the first time in three months in November, while retail sales grew at an accelerated pace, separate reports from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Friday.

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent month-on-month in November, reversing a 2.8 percent rise in October. Economists had expected a 3.4 percent decline.

On a yearly basis, the decline in industrial production was 2.8 percent versus a 1.4 percent rebound a month ago.

Shipments were down 2.7 percent on the month and down 3.8 percent on the year. Similarly, inventories fell 0.9 percent on the month and slid 2.1 percent on the year. Meanwhile, the inventory ratio showed a monthly increase of 3.2 percent.

The annual sales growth in retail sales quickened to 2.8 percent in November from 1.3 percent in October. Monthly, retail sales recovered 1.8 percent after falling 0.2 percent in the prior month.

Sales of textile, clothing, and personal goods retail industry increased 10.7 percent annually in November, and sales at other retailers grew by 5.7 percent.

Tokyo headline consumer price inflation advanced to 3.0 percent in December from 2.6 percent in November, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. Meanwhile, excluding fresh food and energy, core inflation came in at 2.4 percent in December versus 2.2 percent in the previous month.