World Watch
ASIA/PACIFIC</br></br>Japan's Production</br></br>Declines by 2.1%</br></br>Amid Global Slowing</br></br>Japan's industrial production in February dropped 2.1% from a year earlier but was up 0.4% from January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The year-to-year monthly decline, the first since the spring of 1999, underscored the slowdown in manufacturing amid Japan's declining exports and the slowing global economy. The 0.4% month-to-month rise was a modest bounce from a record 4.2% decline in January, and was much weaker than economists' consensus forecast of a 1.7% rise. METI said it expects output this month to fall 0.8% from February, putting production on track to drop 3.3% for the January-March period -- the first quarterly decline since the spring of 1999 -- before a predicted 0.6% rebound in April.