Taro Saito Likely Quotations

With exports to China, demand -- which had slowed late last year -- is now seeing a solid rebound, and with firm demand in the US continuing, Japanese exports are most likely to maintain brisk gains in the near term.

With exports now recovering and domestic demand rising steadily, production activity is likely to maintain its rising trend in the near-term.

With export demand now recovering following the completion of IT inventory adjustments in 2005 and domestic demand expanding solidly, production is likely to continue its rising trend in the near-term, even if there are some monthly fluctuations.

As today's data confirmed a solid upturn in Chinese demand, which had slowed late last year and early this year, as well as firm demand in the United States, Japanese exports are most likely to maintain brisk gains in the near term.

Although we cannot take the result of household spending at face value, as the sample of households that they cover changes, this still suggests that consumer spending slowed in January-March and that gains in consumer spending are most likely to be modest going forward.

Amid the continued recovery of corporate activity, which reduces anxiety about job security, Japanese consumers seem to be increasingly willing to spend more, and that trend is most likely to be sustained going forward.