Japan's wholesale prices rise 8.5 pct in December

Xinhua
14 Jan 2022, 14:44 GMT+10

TOKYO, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japan's wholesale prices rose 8.5 percent in December from a year earlier, recording the second-highest rise on record owing to higher crude oil and commodity prices, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said in a report Friday.

According to the BOJ, the price of goods traded between companies increased for a 10th straight month, with the latest reading coming on the heels of a record 9.2 percent rise in November.

Japan's central bank also said that in 2021 wholesale prices rose 4.8 percent, the highest since comparable data became available in the early 1980s.

This was due to a rise in energy prices as the global economy saw a recovery from the downside factors associated with the previous year's COVID-19-related losses.

The bank indicated that as well as weak yen lifting import prices, Japanese firms have been forced to pass on the increased costs to consumers, resulting in higher energy and food prices.

"We can observe higher commodity prices passed on to wholesale prices," a BOJ official was quoted as saying.

In the recording period, petroleum and coal prices were up 36.6 percent, in line with rising crude oil prices, while iron and steel jumped 25.5 percent and nonferrous metal prices rose 25.5 percent.

Lumber and wood product prices, meanwhile, surged 61.3 percent, the bank also said.

In yen terms, import prices jumped 41.9 percent, while export prices were up 13.5 percent, the central bank's figures showed.

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