15 major Japanese manufacturers to cut capital spending 24% in FY 2009.

TOKYO, May 13 Kyodo

Fifteen major Japanese manufacturers plan to cut their fiscal 2009 capital investment by 24.4 percent from the previous year to 3.61 trillion yen, indicating they have given priority to production cuts as the timing for the economy's bottoming out remains uncertain.

As shown by their latest earnings reports, the total for the year ending next March represents a decline of 1.17 trillion yen from fiscal 2008 and nearly 2 trillion yen from fiscal 2007 before the global financial crisis affected world demand.

Automakers have restricted capital investment for fiscal 2009 following earnings deterioration on a global auto sales slump since the second half of fiscal 2008.

Toyota Motor Corp., in a shift away from a capital investment expansion it promoted particularly outside Japan, says it plans to reduce fiscal 2009 investment below 1 trillion yen for the first time in six years to 830 billion yen. ''Annual capital investment may remain below 1 trillion yen for the coming years,'' company Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita has said.

Honda Motor Co. says it intends to lower fiscal 2009 investment by more than 200 billion yen. Mazda Motor Corp.'s investment plan calls for a 63 percent cut to 30 billion yen.

Electrical machinery makers are also cutting back on capital investment after logging losses in fiscal 2008.

Toshiba Corp. will reduce investment primarily for the slumping semiconductor division, a senior company official said. Toshiba plans to limit its fiscal 2009 investment to 250 billion yen, or some 60 percent of the fiscal 2008 level. Hitachi Ltd. has projected investment for the current fiscal year at 290 billion yen, or two-thirds the level of the previous year.

Chemical makers and steel manufacturers are planning to limit capital investment to secure in-house reserves.

Nippon Steel Corp. intends to expand fiscal 2009 investment from the previous year due to the refurbishment of a blast furnace. But future investment will be curbed considerably, company Executive Vice President Shinichi Taniguchi has said.