TOKYO (XINHUA) – Japan’s corporate goods price index, which measures costs of goods traded between businesses, went up three per cent year on year in July, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said yesterday.
According to preliminary figures from the BOJ, the producer price index stood at 123.1 against the 2020 base of 100, up 0.3 per cent from that of June.
The pace of growth on year marked the sixth straight month of expansion, the central bank data showed.
Local analysts noted that the monthly increase was mostly due to the Japanese government’s halted subsidies for electricity and city gas, while the weakening yen exerted upward pressure on import prices.
In breakdown, electricity, city gas, and water prices rose by 6.7 per cent year on year and 4.4 per cent month on month.
The biggest contributor to the increases in corporate prices for the month was the price of nonferrous metals, which rose 18.5 per cent from a year earlier, while that for plastic products, other industrial products, and products from the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector also saw increases.
The only category where prices fell year on year was wood and wood products.
Meanwhile, the yen-based import and export price indices both increased by 10.8 per cent year on year for the month.
The corporate goods price index, one of the country’s important inflation gauges, measures prices that companies charge each other for goods and services.
