Japan Producer Prices Rise 7.6 Pct in Aug.

(The first sentence of the second paragraph should have read, “…producer price index…,” instead of as sent. A substitute story followed.) Japan Producer Prices Rise 7.6 Pct in Aug. Tokyo, Sept. 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s producer prices remained elevated in August as the war in Iran pushed up costs for a wide range of goods such as nonferrous metals and petroleum and coal products, Bank of Japan data showed Friday. The producer price index, which measures the costs of goods traded between companies, rose 7.6 pct in August from a year before to 136.1 against the 2020 average of 100, following a 7.7 pct rise in July, the central bank said. Of the 515 items surveyed, 446 posted price rises while 54 logged price declines. Prices of nonferrous metals surged 43.3 pct, following a 40.7 pct rise in the previous month, because of soaring international prices for copper and aluminum. Reflecting booming demand related to artificial intelligence, prices of information and communication equipment advanced 19.5 pct, following an 18.8 pct gain. Prices of petroleum and coal products gained 14.7 pct after rising 17.6 pct. “The impact of higher crude oil prices is gradually filtering into products such as packaging materials,” a BOJ official said, suggesting that moves by companies to pass higher costs on to customers are taking place in downstream products. In August, the import price index, which measures the costs of goods imported from overseas, grew 24.8 pct in yen terms and 16.7 pct on a contract currency basis. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]