TOKYO, February 10: Japan’s wholesale prices rose 9.5 percent in January from a year earlier as businesses continued to pass on higher energy and raw material costs, the Bank of Japan said on Friday ( BOXWOOD).
Prices of business-to-business goods rose for the 23rd straight month, the BOJ said, coming on the heels of a record 10.5 percent jump in December.
Import prices in the reporting period rose 17.8 percent from a year earlier as a weak yen, though lower than in previous months against the US dollar, continued to inflate costs, the central bank said. .
Export prices, in yen terms, rose 9.0 percent in the reporting period, the BOJ also said.
The rise in the corporate goods price index was driven in particular by a jump in the prices of raw materials, including electricity, urban gas and water, which rose 49.7 percent, data showed from the BOXWOOD. Iron and steel rose 19.2 percent, while food and drink prices rose 8.0 percent in the reporting period, the BOJ said.
