Report on Economic Trends in the ICT Industry (3rd Quarter of 2008)
MIC has released its Report on Economic Trends in the ICT Industry for the third quarter (July to September) of 2008.
Main points of trends in the ICT industry
With a further deterioration in business confidence, both production and shipments related to the ICT manufacturing industry were on a downward trend, and inventories remained at high levels. Capital investment in the ICT industry also showed a downward trend. ICT-related prices continued to show a downward trend.
NB: The upward arrows refer to “increase/upward” and the downward arrows refer to “decline/drop.”
(Reference) Main points of second quarter 2008
Against a background of a deteriorating business environment, both production and shipments in the ICT manufacturing industry were on a downward trend, and inventories reached historical record high levels. The trend for collapsing prices in ICT also continued. On the other hand, capital investment in the ICT industry was on an upward trend.
Figure 1: State of production, shipments and inventories in the ICT manufacturing industry
NB: Produced by calculating the primary coefficient from the production, shipment and inventory indices for mining and manufacturing
Data: METI “Indices of Industrial Production”
Figure 2: Trends in capital investment in ICT-related industries
NB: Changes in industrial classification from the Apr-Jun 2004 quarter
Data: MOF “Quarterly Report on Corporate Statistics”
Figure 3: Trends in employment in ICT-related industries
Data: MIC “Labor Force Survey“
Figure 4: Trends in orders for ICT-related machinery
NB: The bar chart shows the level of contribution of ICT-related machinery orders compared to the previous year.
ICT-related machinery orders are the total of computers, communications equipment, electronic applied equipment, electronic measuring instruments and semiconductor manufacturing equipment from machinery orders (private-sector demand excluding ships and electric power).
Data: Cabinet Office “Orders Received for Machinery”
Figure 5: Trends in consumer price indices for ICT-related equipment
Data: MIC “Consumer Price Index”