Japan industrial output down 1.2 percent

Tokyo -- Japan, citing weaker demand for microchips and paper products, Monday reported its February industrial output was off 1.2 percent from January.

It was the second consecutive month of such decline. January showed a 2.2 percent decline. It was the first back-to-back month decline in nine months, Kyodo news service reported.

The Economic and Trade Ministry's in its preliminary report, however, said manufacturers project a 2 percent rise in industrial production in March and a 1 percent fall in April.

The expected March increase is based on projections of an output increase in the electronic device and steel sectors, while the April decline would largely be due to falling production in semiconductors, automobiles and metal products.

"'Automakers are becoming apprehensive about the future course of overseas markets on the back of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis and the steep appreciation of the yen," against the U.S. dollar in recent weeks, Yuichiro Nagai, economist at Barclays Capital Japan Ltd., told Kyodo.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.