Japan’s core machinery orders—excluding volatile categories such as ships and electric power—rose 8.7% month-on-month in April 2026 to JPY 1,098.5 billion. This far exceeded market expectations for a 0.9% increase and represented a sharp rebound from the 9.4% decline recorded in March.
The recovery was supported by a 5.1% rise in manufacturing orders, which reached JPY 513.5 billion, and a 6.7% increase in non-manufacturing orders excluding utilities, which climbed to JPY 570.1 billion. Within manufacturing, particularly strong gains were seen in shipbuilding (+160.7%), textile mill products (+61.7%), and non-ferrous metals (+51.3%). In the non-manufacturing sector, real estate (+107.7%), transportation and postal activities (+36.9%), and goods leasing (+32.7%) all posted notable increases.
On a year-on-year basis, core machinery orders grew 15.6%, beating market forecasts for a 9.3% rise and accelerating from a seven-month low increase of 5.9% in the previous period.
