Japan machinery orders rise in April but steel misses out

Machinery orders for private demand received by the 280 manufacturers in Japan surveyed by the government's Cabinet Office jumped by 5.5% month on month in April to the equivalent of Yen 900 billion ($6.4 billion) and marked the first rise in three months, data released on June 15 showed.

But though the overall trend is encouraging, the country's iron and steel industry will find little to cheer about in the statistics. For starters, the Cabinet Office acknowledged that orders from the manufacturing sector declined and that the overall increase was driven by "active digital-related investment in the non-manufacturing sector."