Japan corporate capital investment topped $121 bil. in Q1 of this year: 7.4% up from last Q1

Japan capital investment up for 4th quarter
Date: Jun 2, 2014
Source: NHK World

Japanese companies are putting more money into equipment and machinery. Capital investments rose for the 4th straight quarter in the January-March period.

The Finance Ministry reported on Monday that corporate capital investment topped 121 billion dollars in the first 3 months of this year. That’s up 7.4 percent from the same period last year.

Investment by manufacturers rose 6.8 percent. Automakers raised their output capacity for new models, and beverage makers increased their production lines.

Investment by non-manufacturers rose 7.7 percent. Railway operators replaced older models with newer ones. Construction companies are building more and more new properties for the rental market.

The survey of more than 30,000 large companies also showed that sales increased by 5.6 percent for the 3rd consecutive quarter of year-on-year gains. Pretax profit was up for the 9th straight quarter, by 20.2 percent.

Finance Ministry officials say capital investment has grown faster than in previous quarters. They say this likely reflects moderate economic recovery and improvements in business conditions.