Japan Machine Tool Orders Plunge 8.5%

(RTTNews) - Japan's machine tool orders declined for the fifteenth straight month in March, largely due to weak domestic demand, preliminary data from the Japan Machine Tool Builders Association, or JMTBA, showed on Tuesday.

Machine tool orders fell 8.5 percent year-on-year in March, which was faster than the 8.0 percent decline in the previous month.

Domestic demand was 14.7 percent lower in March compared to last year, and foreign orders contracted by 5.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, machine tool orders decreased 3.8 percent in March, reversing a 2.9 percent rebound in the prior month.