Japan Electronic Materials Output Increases by 7% in February

Japanese electronic materials output increased by 7% to 32.66 billion yen in February from a year earlier, according to Japan Electronics & Technology Industries Association. Permanent magnet production maintained steady. Metal materials output also represented the year-to-year increase in February though which showed the year-to-year down in January after 2 years. Permanent magnet production increased by 8% to more than 9 billion yen in February from a year earlier. Rare earth magnets, including neodymium-iron-boron magnets and samarium-cobalt magnets, increased by 9% year-on-year. Strong demand and higher material price pushed up the output value. The metal materials output increased by 3% in February from a year ago, up for 1% for electric tube and leadframe materials. The production of semiconductive ceramics, including thermistors and varistors, increased by 7% year-on-year while dielectric ceramics increased by 8%. Soft ferrite output decreased by 1%.