Japan's machine tool orders declined notably at the start of the year after recovering in the previous month, as both domestic and foreign demand weakened amid rising cost pressures, preliminary data from the Japan Machine Tool Builders Association, or JMTBA, showed Thursday.
Machine tool orders declined 9.7 percent year-on-year in January, reversing a 0.9 percent rise in December, which was the first increase in three months.
Domestic demand was 1.7 percent lower in January compared to last year, and foreign orders plunged 13.2 percent.
On a monthly basis, machine tool orders declined 8.2 percent in January, in contrast to a 4.7 percent gain in the prior month.
