Mazda cancels plans to idle Japan plant

TOKYO (Reuters) - Mazda Motor said on Wednesday it will cancel a plan to idle its main Japan plant for two days next month, as demand has picked up following economic measures from various governments, especially in Germany and France.

The Japanese carmaker said it will not idle any of its domestic plants in June or July, although global sales conditions remain tough.

The improved production outlook at Mazda comes amid some signs of recovery in demand for the car industry.

Nissan Motor Co said on Tuesday orders for its low-emission cars are up 30 percent in Japan so far in May from the same period a year earlier, helped by the government's new tax incentives for low-emission cars.

The Fuji Sankei Business i daily also said on Tuesday that Japan's new vehicles sales excluding minicars rose 15 percent in the first half of May from the same period a year earlier.

Shares of Mazda were flat at 223 yen, while Nissan climbed 4.6 percent to 547 yen. The benchmark Nikkei stock average rose 0.5 percent.

(Reporting by Yumiko Nishitani and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Joseph Radford)