Core machinery orders in Japan, which exclude those of ships and electrical equipment, fell 0.1 percent month-over-month in December of 2018 after stalling in the previous month and compared to market expectations of a 1.1 percent drop. Manufacturing orders slumped 8.5 percent after a 6.4 percent decline in November, namely petroleum and coal products (-89.5 percent vs 83.5 percent). On the other hand, non-manufacturing orders jumped 6.8 percent after a 2.5 percent rise in November. Year-on-year, core machinery orders rose 0.9 percent, after a 0.8 percent rise in November and below expectations of a 4.8 percent jump. Considering the last quarter of the year, core machinery orders were down 4.2 percent over the previous period after a 0.9 percent rise in the September quarter. In 2018, core machinery orders increased 3.6 percent. Machinery Orders in Japan averaged 0.27 percent from 1987 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 25.50 percent in October of 1996 and a record low of -18.30 percent in September of 2018.
Machinery Orders in Japan is expected to be 1.70 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Machinery Orders in Japan to stand at 0.30 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Japan Machinery Orders is projected to trend around 0.20 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.