TOKYO- Japanese manufacturers turned less positive about their business conditions in January, in a sign the economy faces pressure from the Omicron variant as well as rising energy and raw material costs, the Reuters Tankan poll showed.
Manufacturers and service sector firms were more optimistic about the coming three months, the monthly poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan’s closely watched “tankan” quarterly survey, showed.
Some firms in the poll of 502 big and mid-sized companies, of which 254 responded, said their bottom lines were being pressured by commodity inflation, while others were more optimistic as they benefited from strong global demand.
“There’s a demand rush before prices are raised,” a manager at a metal products maker said in the Dec. 22-Jan. 7 poll.
The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers fell to 17 in January from 22 in December, slipping from the previous survey’s four-month high, while the service index rose to a 23-month high of 8 from 6 in the prior month.
