Japan wholesale inflation slows in October

[TOKYO] Japan’s wholesale prices rose 2.7 per cent in October from a year earlier, slowing from the previous month due in part to falling import costs, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The rise in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, compared with a median market forecast for a 2.5 per cent increase. It followed a revised 2.8 per cent increase in September.

The yen-based import price index fell 1.5 per cent in October from a year earlier after a revised 1.1 per cent drop in September, the data showed.

The wholesale price data is among factors the Bank of Japan scrutinises as a leading indicator of consumer inflation, which is the central bank’s main gauge in setting monetary policy.

The BOJ exited a decade-long, massive stimulus programme last year and raised interest rates to 0.5 per cent in January on the view Japan was on the cusp of sustainably achieving its 2 per cent inflation target.

While consumer inflation has exceeded 2 per cent for well over three years, Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the need to move cautiously in hiking rates further to ensure price rises are driven by solid domestic demand rather than raw material costs. AFP