The wholesale price index hit its highest level again in November, with prices of goods traded between companies surging 9.3 percent from a year earlier, Bank of Japan data showed Monday, underscoring the contribution of surging energy costs and a weaker yen to inflationary pressure.
The key index stood at 118.5, the highest since comparable data became available in 1960. Wholesale prices, which affect consumer prices with a lag, rose for the 21th straight month, staying above 9 percent for almost a year.
The pace of increase, however, slowed somewhat in November from a revised 9.4 percent in the previous month.
The yen's weakening, particularly against the U.S. dollar, has been boosting the import costs of everything from energy and raw materials to food items. Import prices jumped 28.2 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 15.1 percent gain in export prices.
As a growing number of companies have passed on higher costs by hiking retail prices, rises in consumer prices have also stayed above the BOJ's 2 percent target in recent months. The price trend has not changed the bank's view that the recent inflation will not last long and that the current ultralow rate policy should be maintained.
Electricity, city gas and water prices gained 49.7 percent, with the pace of rise accelerating from a revised 44.1 percent a month earlier.
Iron and steel prices saw a 20.9 percent increase while those of food were up 7.2 percent.
The pace of gain in petroleum and coal products, which had soared amid Russia's war on Ukraine, slowed to 0.5 percent, with the surge taking a breather as monetary tightening by major central banks raises concerns about a global economic slowdown.
The contrasting monetary policies of Japan and its peers in the United States and Europe had weakened the yen but such selling pressure on the Japanese unit has been easing in recent weeks.
