Japan’s wholesale inflation slows for 6th straight month

Shoppers look at packs of sugars at a luxury food store in Tokyo. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File photo

TOKYO  – Japan’s wholesale inflation slowed for a sixth straight month in June due to sliding fuel and commodity prices, data showed on Wednesday, a sign the cost-push pressure that drove up consumer prices is steadily easing.

The corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, rose 4.1 percent in June from a year earlier, data showed, slower than a median market forecast for a 4.3 percent increase. It followed a 5.2- percent gain in May, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) data showed.

The BOJ has stressed its resolve to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy until the recent cost-driven rise in inflation shifts to price gains driven by robust domestic demand, and accompanied by higher wages.

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