Japan's Aug wholesale prices rise 9.0% yr/yr on high raw material costs

TOKYO : Japan's wholesale prices rose 9.0 per cent in August from the previous year, matching the year-on-year pace of growth hit in July, data showed on Tuesday, signalling that persistently high raw material costs continued to squeeze corporate margins.

The rise in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, roughly matched a median market forecast for a 8.9 per cent increase, Bank of Japan data showed.

Reflecting easing input pressure, however, wholesale prices rose just 0.2 per cent in August from the previous month, slower than a revised 0.7 per cent month-on-month increase marked in July.

The yen-based import price index rose 42.5 per cent in August from a year earlier, after a revised 49.1 per cent increase in July, the data showed.