OSAKA -- Leading Japanese electronics component makers saw orders for their products barely grow in October-December 2015, with slowing Chinese device production bringing an end to nearly three years of double-digit year-over-year quarterly rises.
Orders to six major parts makers -- Kyocera, TDK, Murata Manufacturing, Nidec, Nitto Denko and Alps Electric -- totaled just under 1.4 trillion yen ($11.8 billion) for the quarter, only about 1% above the year-earlier level, the Nikkei calculates. For Nidec and Nitto Denko, sales figures were used in place of order values. The total is close to a record high, but marks the slowest growth since January-March 2012, when after-effects of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan's northeast and flooding in Thailand kept orders below the year-earlier level.
