The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Wednesday revised June's decline in industrial production to 0.2 percent from a preliminary 0.7 percent over the previous month.

METI officials said the revision was made partly due to brisk production of drugs, which had been left out of the preliminary data.

As for output at mines and factories, the seasonally adjusted index came to 96.6 against the 1995 base of 100, the ministry said. It was the first drop in production in five months.

When it announced the preliminary data, the ministry upgraded its assessment of national production, saying it was showing gradual improvement despite the fall. It also noted that production rose for the past two quarters.

METI made an upward revision in output for the April-June quarter, bumping it from a preliminary 3.6 percent to 3.8 percent, the largest jump since the January-March quarter of 1976, when production rose 4.8 percent.

The unadjusted utilization ratio for June edged down 0.9 percent from a year before, after rising 0.2 percent the previous month.

The officials said the utilization ratio fell due to sluggish production of vehicles and personal computers.

The index for production capacity fell 3.4 percent from a year earlier to an unadjusted 93.5, maintaining its prolonged decline.