Japan’s factory output keeps gaining

TOKYO: Japan’s industrial production maintained its pace in October even amid a resurgence of the coronavirus at home and abroad.

Factory output gained 3.8% from September, when it advanced 3.9%, the economy ministry reported.

Analysts had forecast a 2.4% gain. Production has risen for five straight months, the longest streak since 2016, amid rebounds from a collapse in May during a nationwide state of emergency.

A separate report showed retail sales rose 0.4% in October from the previous month, compared with a 0.5% gain forecast by economists.

Another month of increasing factory output adds to evidence that Japan’s economy continued to rebound in October from its record collapse in the second quarter, but production remains below last year’s level and a worsening pandemic darkens the outlook.

Exports to the United States and China have offered key support to Japanese manufacturers during the recovery, but the virus is spreading fast in recent days.

Record cases have led to more lockdowns in parts of Europe and infection rates are soaring in the United States.

At home, Tokyo and Osaka last week called on some businesses to close early, while the northern prefecture of Hokkaido implemented its own measures to stem the virus’s spread. The steps could weigh on demand.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government is drafting a third extra budget to fight the crisis.

A key adviser to the premier last week said the new spending package would need to be more than double the size expected by investors if it is to stop mass job losses, given how much the pandemic has hit demand.

“Fresh waves of Covid-19 infections in Europe and the United States have started to restrict business activities, weighing on private demand,” said economist Yuki Masujima.