Automobile production in Japan decreased at the end of the year after rising in the previous month, figures from the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association showed Friday.

Production of vehicle dropped 2.3 percent or by 17,359 units year-over-year to 749,693 units in December. In November, production grew for the first time in seventeen months.

Domestic automobile demand plunged 14.5 percent to 369,460 units in December.

At the same time, automobile exports climbed 8.1 percent annually to 411,865 units during December. It was the fourth successive monthly gain.

Exports to Europe expanded sharply by 57.9 percent in December from last year. Shipment to EU member states jumped by 66.4 percent.

Motorcycle production totaled 53,296 units in December, rose by 3.3 percent from the same month of the previous year. Meanwhile, motorcycle exports slid by 0.6 percent to 46,909 units.

In the whole year 2015, automobile production fell 5.1 percent to 9,278,238 units compared with the 9,774,665 units total recorded for the previous year.

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com