The US downturn is biting harder in Japan, with manufacturers cutting production in February for a second month in a row.

Output fell 1.2% from January, when it slid 2.2%, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. They are the first back-to-back declines in production in nine months.

Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said last week that the slowdown in the US, Japan's biggest export market, may also start to take its toll on the emerging markets where Japan ships more than half its exports.

The figures however were better than consensus forecasts that saw a 2% drop as likely.

In a survey, most manufacturing companies believed production will rise 2% in March before falling 1% in April.

The yen weakened to 99.95 to the dollar and the yield on Japan's 10-year bond fell 2 basis points to 1.25%.

The Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey of business confidence, due tomorrow, will probably show that sentiment among the country's biggest manufacturers fell in March to its lowest level in four years. The yen's rise and record oil prices are eroding profits, just as the US slowdown is hurting sales.