JAPAN’S automobile sales slumped 31.3 percent in October from a year earlier to mark the fourth straight month of declines, industry data showed yesterday. The sales decline is a sign that output cuts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were hurting the country’s already weak consumption. The domestic sales data are among few indicators available so far in gauging the strength of consumption since state of emergency curbs to combat the pandemic were lifted Sept. 30. The sales slump highlights the widening damage of supply disruptions on Japan’s economy. A global parts and chip shortage has taken a heavy toll on automakers, forcing them to slash global output and causing delays in delivery of cars. The supply constraints, if prolonged, could prevent Japan’s economy from staging a solid rebound from an expected flat or negative growth in the July-September period, analysts say. “We expect the economy to achieve annualized growth of around 5 percent in the October-December period mainly due to strong consumption,” said Taro Saito, an economist at NLI Research Institute. “But there are many risks,” including the chance supply constraints last longer than expected, he added. Saito expects the economy to have contracted by 0.9 percent in the third quarter. The government will release Japan’s July-September preliminary gross domestic product data Nov. 15. (SD-Agencies) | 