The Cabinet Office in Japan reported a significant on-month increase of 7.7 percent in the value of core machine orders this February. The orders rang in at 886.6 billion yen, smashing the expected increase of only 0.8 percent. This comes following a 1.7 percent decrease witnessed in January.
Despite the annual rate of core machine orders witnessing a decrease of 1.8 percent, it was still less than the anticipated decline of 5 percent. This was an improvement from a 10.9 percent dip recorded the previous month.
The government's orders saw a significant on-month increase of 12.1 percent and a year-on-year increase of 58.6 percent, leading to a total of 527.0 billion yen. Furthermore, orders from overseas also showed positive growth, up by 0.7 percent on-month and by 8.6 percent on-year, landing at 1,238.4 billion yen.
Projections for the first quarter of 2024 suggest that core machine orders will rise by 4.9 percent on-quarter, while depicting a minor decline of 0.1 percent on-year at 2,637.4 billion yen.
Finally, a total of 280 manufacturers operating in Japan reported that the total value of machinery orders received increased by 2.1 percent on-month and 8.8 percent on-year in February, amounting to 2,803.4 billion yen.
