Auto production for the first half of the business year fell 2.8 percent to 4.8 million units over the same period last year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Monday.

The output in the April-September period marked the first year-on-year decline since 1998, a JAMA spokesman said, adding decreased exports to Europe and Asia were mostly to blame.

Overall, exports across the six-month period are estimated to have fallen 10 percent from a year earlier, while domestic demand slipped 0.3 percent to 2.8 million.

Car output dipped 2.5 percent on a year-on-year basis to 3.9 million units, the first decline in the six-month period since 1998.

Truck output fell 4.8 percent compared with the same period last year to 799,764 units, marking the seventh consecutive year-on-year decline in the first fiscal half.

The truck output figure is the second lowest for a first half since the current recording method was adopted in 1966.

Bus output rose 10.4 percent to 30,024 units, the second consecutive first-half increase, the association said.

Toyota Motor Corp., the nation's top automaker, produced 1.6 million automobiles in the six-month period, up 0.5 percent from the same period last year. Honda Motor Co. placed second, producing 638,758 units, up 5.3 percent.

Nissan Motor Co. manufactured 606,620 units, down 8.2 percent from the same period last year.

Suzuki Motor Corp. produced 451,876 units, down 1.8 percent from last year, followed by Mazda Motor Corp. with 374,157, up 2.2 percent.

For the month of September, overall auto production fell 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 828,207 units, ending a two-month streak of year-on-year increases.

Car output in September dipped 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 678,422 units.

Production of trucks declined 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 144,688 units, while bus output surged 17.3 percent to 5,097 units, its sixth consecutive month of increase.