Industrial production in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent on month in October, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Wednesday.
That missed forecasts for a contraction of 1.5 percent following the 1.7 percent drop in September.
On a yearly basis, industrial production rose 3.7 percent - also shy of expectations for a gain of 5 percent and slowing from 9.6 percent in the previous month.
Upon the release of the data, the METI announced its assessment of industrial production, saying that it is picking up slowly but still shows signs of weakness in places.
