Japan’s industrial production saw a record jump in November, adding to evidence that a manufacturing recovery from supply chain snags was solidly underway before the omicron variant started to spread around the globe.
A bounce back in the auto industry helped production climb 7.2% from October’s level, the biggest gain in data going back to 1978, data from the economy ministry showed Tuesday. Analysts had expected a 4.8% increase.
Despite last month’s surge, production remained below July’s level, an indication of how damaging global supply chain blockages have been to Japan’s key manufacturing sector. November production was 5.4% above year-earlier levels, but still sharply down from a high in April.