Japan factory output falls 1.7% in Nov, worse than 0.5% decline expected

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese factories slowed in November, spelling out the daunting task that lies ahead for the new conservative government in reviving the world's third-largest economy.

The 1.7-per-cent drop in output from a month earlier - worse than a 0.5-per-cent decline expected by the market - came as the new government took power this week on a campaign that pledged to inject new life into the country's limp economy, after it won a landslide election earlier this month.

Japan's economy has been hurt by a strong yen, turmoil in the key European market and the global economic slowdown, confounding the nation's recovery from the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis.

A territorial dispute with Beijing has also weighed on Japanese exports due to a consumer boycott in China stemming from the spat.