Producer prices up 2.7% in Jan.

February 13, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's producer price index for January rose 2.7 pct from a year before, up for the 13th consecutive month, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.

The rise mainly reflected higher crude oil and nonferrous metal prices, according to the central bank.

The size of growth was 0.3 percentage point smaller than the previous month's revised figure.

The producer price index for January stood at 100.3 against 100 for the base year of 2015.

Prices for petroleum and coal products surged 12.3 percent on the back of output cuts in oil-producing countries and a halt to production facilities due to accidents.

Nonferrous metal prices jumped 10.5 percent because of higher demand for copper and aluminum.

A BOJ official said that prices of various items grew due to higher demand stemming from improvement in the world economy and supply-side factors, such as environmental regulations in China.

But the number of items that saw price rises because of domestic demand was not large, the official said. Jiji Press