Services producer prices up 0.8 % in Oct.

November 27, 2017

Tokyo-Japan's services producer prices in October rose 0.8 percent from a year earlier, up for the 52nd straight month, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

The services producer prices index, which measures the costs of services provided to corporate customers, stood at 104.0 against 100 for the base year of 2010, according a BOJ preliminary report. In September, the index increased 0.9 percent.

Prices for road freight transportation services rose 1.2 percent, bigger than the growth of 0.7 percent in the previous month.

The momentum of price growth "is increasing" against the backdrop of labor shortages and higher fuel prices, said an official of the BOJ's Research and Statistics Department.

Prices for ocean freight transportation services soared 17.9 percent on the back of robust demand from China.

Meanwhile, advertisement prices turned lower. Television ad demand weakened in the food and financial industries, and newspapers saw a decrease in housing ads. Jiji Press