— Japan Dec CGPI +1.3% Y/Y; MNI Poll Median Forecast: +1.2%
— Japan CGPI Posts 15th Straight Y/Y Rise; Nov Revised +1.6%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s corporate goods price index rose 1.3% from a
year earlier in December, marking the 15th consecutive y/y rise, but the
pace of increase decelerated from a downwardly revised +1.6% in November
amid slowing global demand, data released by the Bank of Japan Monday
showed.
The December CGPI figure came in slightly higher than the median
forecast for a 1.2% rise in a Market News International survey of
economists.
CGPI rose 2.8% in July, 2011, posting the largest y/y increase
since +4.5% in October 2008, but the pace of increase has continued to
slow.
For the whole of 2011, CGPI rose 2.0% on year, posting the first
y/y rise in three years following a 0.1% fall in 2010 and a 5.2% drop in
2009.
From the previous month, CGPI rose 0.1% in December, after being
flat in November and falling 0.8% in October.
Commodity prices, the key driver behind the recent gains in CGPI,
fell amid the slowing global economy. The continued strong yen is also
lowering import costs.
The BOJ’s overseas commodity index — composed of 17 items
including crude oil, copper, gold, wheat and beef — stood at 191.6
(against 100.0 for the 2005 base year) in December, up only 5.4% on
year, slowing from +16.5% in November and +20.8% in October.
The dollar-yen exchange rate averaged Y77.8 in December, 2011,
compared with Y77.5 in November, 2011, and Y83.4 in December 2010.
The number of CGPI items whose prices rose from a year earlier
totaled 402 in December, or 47.0% of the basket, up from 390, or 45.6%,
in November, while the number of items whose prices fell came to 308, or
36.0%, down from 315, or 36.8% in the previous month.
The index had recovered steadily from the record 8.5% drop marked
in August and July 2009, which were the largest year-on-year declines
since the BOJ began compiling the data in 1960.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **
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