The Finance Ministry on Tuesday upgraded its quarterly assessment of the nation's regional economies for the second time in a row.

It noted that economic improvement was detected in nine of the 11 regions, tied to export-driven production of automobiles, electronic devices and their components.

"The economy is generally rebounding," says a ministry report that summarizes the assessments made over the last three months by the 11 regional bureau chiefs.

The previous report stated there were "signs of a rebound in each area."

The latest report features cases of vigorous production reported by some regional chiefs.

In Kyushu, for example, production of integrated circuits and plasma display panels rose, leading in some cases to large-scale capital investment worth 100 billion yen to 200 billion yen per plant.

The report says a major regional electronics maker in the Kinki region posted robust profits, backed by strong demand for digital gadgets.

This had a positive impact on the profits of digital component makers, it says.

Meanwhile, personal spending leveled off in many regions, with some regions showing a decline, as sales of winter clothes were hurt by the relatively warm weather.

Employment, albeit still severe, improved in almost all regions, the report says.

In the latest report, four regions earned upgrades from the October report, in which five showed improvement and six others said their economies had remained almost flat.

In the latest report, Hokkaido and Shikoku were the only regions that said their economies stayed flat.

Among the regions that showed improvement, the Kanto region saw robust output of semiconductors and liquid crystal displays, amid strong exports to and imports from other parts of Asia.

In the Tokai region and Shikoku, which host major auto assembly plants, domestic sales and exports of automobiles remained strong.

Production of chemicals, as well as iron and steel for cars, were also strong.

In Okinawa, tourism reaped higher profits than it did a year earlier, with the number of tourists in the region hitting an all-time high in 2003.

Many bureau chiefs were cautious, however, over the impact of the recent surge in the yen against the dollar on export-oriented industries, the report says.