The government on Monday shaved a full point off January's rise in industrial output because of weak production in the chemical sector, bringing it down to a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent.

Despite the downward revision from the earlier reported figure of 2.4 percent compared with December, the index of production at factories and mines still rose a third consecutive month and output "continues to show an upward movement," a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official said.

The official attributed the downgrade largely to data related to output of pharmaceutical products, which were not available when it published the preliminary report on Feb. 28. Production in the chemicals sector fell 6.4 percent, compared with a 0.5 percent fall in the initial report.

By reflecting other data unavailable at the time of the preliminary report, the output of transport equipment makers trimmed its rise to 7 percent from the earlier reported 7.5 percent. Following the revision, the index came to 96 against the base of 100 for 2005.