Japan: May Production Rises for Second Straight Month, In Line With Market Forecast

Research evidence excerpt

Japan: May Production Rises for Second Straight Month, In Line With Market Forecast

Economics Research

30 June 2026 | 9:52AM JST

Japan: May Production Rises for Second Straight Month, In Line With

Market Forecast

BOTTOM LINE: Industrial production rose by +0.5% mom in May (April: +0.5%), Yuriko Tanaka

+81(3)4587-9964 |

increasing for the second consecutive month, broadly in line with the market yuriko.tanaka@gs.com

Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.

forecast (+0.6%). Production of inorganic & organic chemicals and petroleum & coal

products, which had been declining since February due to the impact of the Middle

East disruption, turned upward in May. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and

Industry’s (METI) bias-adjusted production outlook for June calls for an increase of

+2.6% mom.

JP MAP:

n Production (mom) 0 (relevance: 4; surprise: 0)

KEY NUMBERS:

n Production, May: +0.5% mom, vs. GS: +0.3%, BBG consensus: +0.6%, April:

+0.5%

MAIN POINTS:

May production rises for the second consecutive month, in line with market

forecast: Industrial production rose by +0.5% mom in May (April: +0.5%), increasing

for the second consecutive month, broadly in line with the market forecast (+0.6%).

Shipments also increased for the second consecutive month by +0.6% mom (April:

+1.3%). Inventories fell by -0.6%. The government maintained its overall assessment

of industrial production as “see-sawing”.

By sector, the results were mixed, with production declining in 8 of the 15 sectors

and increasing in 7. Among the declining sectors, declines in machinery related areas

stood out, with general purpose & business oriented machinery falling by -6.2%

mom, electrical machinery & information and communication electronics equipment

by -5.1%, and production machinery by -3.6%.