Japan Machinery Orders Fall the Most in 4 Months

2026-05-20 23:57 By Chusnul Chotimah 1 min. read

Japan’s core machinery orders, which exclude volatile sectors such as ships and electric power, dropped 9.4% mom to JPY 1,010.9 billion in March 2026, reversing sharply from a 13.6% rise in the prior month and worse than market expectations for an 8.1% decline.

It was the steepest decline in machinery orders since last November.

Manufacturing orders shrank 14.2% to JPY 488.4 billion, due to weakness across most key industries, including non-ferrous metals (-88.0%), shipbuilding (-51.2%), other transport equipment (-31.2%), textile mill products (-30.2%), petroleum and coal products (-29.6%), and chemical products (-27.9%).

Meanwhile, non-manufacturing orders fell 6.0% to JPY 534.3 billion, reversing a 0.8% rise in February.

For Q1, machinery orders grew 6.4%.

On an annual basis, core machinery orders rose 5.9%, easing sharply from a 24.7% surge previously, marking the softest growth since last November, when machinery orders fell by 6.4%, though the reading beat forecasts of 4.5%.



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