Industrial production coming back, but....

Japan's industrial production "surged" 1.9% in June for its fifth monthly gain. From MarketWatch:

Japan's industrial production index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.9% on month in July, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday. The result was above a 1.6% on-month gain expected by economists polled in a Dow Jones Newswires and Nikkei survey, though it was still 22.9% below the year-ago level.

Alongside Japan, many developed economies are showing some rebound in industrial production, a measure of physical output.

Wow, Japan is really experiencing a rebound in factory output. However, looking back a little farther back in time, one really sees how low is industrial output. At the trough (February 2009 for Japan), production fell back to levels not seen since:

• 1998 in the US
• 1992 in the UK
• 1997 in Canada
• 1999 in Germany
• 1987 in Italy
• 1983 in Japan
  

Yup, Japan's down hard. It's gonna take a huge push in demand to get production levels back.

Rebecca Wilder