Japan recorded its highest year on year wholesale prices surgence since January 1981. The country’s wholesale price increased by 8% as the crude prices increased and the value of Yen weakened, said Japan’s Central Bank on Thursday.
The wholesale prices grew for 8 months continuously, with the latest rise of 8% being the highest since it grew at the rate of 8.1% four decades ago according to the country’s central bank, reported Xinhua News Agency.
The petroleum and coal products prices also rose by 44.5 per cent, indicating the higher commodity prices.
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As many Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, demand for energy and raw materials was boosted with the recovering economies.
According to the BOJ data, lumber and wood prices soared 57 per cent, iron and steel prices advanced 21.8 per cent, and prices for nonferrous metals surged 31.4 per cent.
Electricity, gas, and water bills rose 10.9 per cent.
Electricity prices normally track higher oil prices with a delay.
Import prices also marked a record 38 per cent increase, and export prices increased 13.7 per cent. Both figures are in yen terms.
Despite the surging wholesale prices, the BOJ maintained its monetary easing to attain its 2 per cent inflation target, as it evaluated that the inflationary pressure was not as high as in other advanced economies.
The core consumer prices, a key measure of inflation, were only modest compared with wholesale prices since Japanese companies have been reluctant to pass on higher costs to consumers to protect demand recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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