Japan’s corporate commodity price index rose 8.6% year-on-year in July, beating market expectations. The index has been higher than the same period last year for 17 consecutive months, and although it has slowed since June, it still maintains the high rate of increase since December 1980.
The Bank of Japan (Bank of Japan) announced on Wednesday (10th) that Japan’s Corporate Goods Price Index (CGPI) in July 2022 was reported at 114.5, an annual increase of 8.6%. The main reason is that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has caused supply constraints, resulting in high prices of energy and other resources, as well as the depreciation of the yen.
Japan’s corporate goods price index in July was the highest since the survey was launched in 1960 and was 0.2 percentage points higher than a forecast for an 8.4 percent annual increase. The increase in June was revised up to 9.4% from 9.2% reported in the previous month; the increase in April was also revised up to 10% from 9.9%. The increase in April was the highest since January 1981.
Among the 515 items announced by the Bank of Japan, 418 items rose in price, accounting for 81.2% of the total. In terms of items, steel (27.2%), petroleum/coal products (14.7%), metal products (11.1%) and chemical products (10.9%) saw the most significant increases.
In addition, the prices of beverages and food (5.5%) and fiber products (5.3%), which are more directly related to general consumers, also rose.
Import prices in Japanese yen increased by 48%, significantly exceeding the 25.4% in other currencies such as the US dollar. Export prices in yen rose by 19.1%, while export prices in currencies such as the dollar rose only 4.7%.