— Japan July Core CPI -0.3% Y/Y; MNI Median Forecast -0.3%
— Central Tokyo Aug CPI -0.5% Y/Y; MNI Median Forecast -0.6%
— Japan July CPI Energy Costs +0.7% Y/Y Vs June +2.0%
— Japan July CPI Gasoline Prices -6.0% Y/Y Vs June -3.2%
— Japan July CPI TVs -4.2% Y/Y Vs June -6.1%
— Japan July CPI Recreational Durable Goods -8.8%; June -11.1%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s core consumer prices posted a third straight
year-on-year drop in July, hit by lower gasoline costs and continued
depressed prices of TVs and other consumer electronics, data released
Friday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
The core reading, which excludes perishables but includes energy,
fell 0.3% last month from a year earlier following a 0.2% dip in June.
The result matched the median forecast in a MNI survey.
Meanwhile, total national CPI declined 0.4% on year in July,
marking a second straight fall after falling 0.2% in June.
Prices of consumer durable goods, led by flat-screen TVs, dropped
8.8% in July from a year earlier, pushing down the overall CPI by 0.11
percentage point, after a 11.1% drop in June.
Prices of TVs alone fell 4.2% last month but the pace of decline
decelerated from -6.1% in June.
Overall energy costs in July rose just 0.7% from a year earlier
following a 2.0% rise in June.
The pace of y/y decline in gasoline prices accelerated to -6.0% in
July from -3.2% in June while utility charges remained in positive
territory.
National CPI excluding food and energy, or the U.S.-style core CPI,
dropped 0.6% y/y in July following a 0.6% fall in June.
Central Tokyo core CPI fell 0.5% on the year in August after a 0.6%
drop in the previous month. It came in slightly better than the MNI
survey median forecast for a 0.6% fall.
CPI figures date to 1970 under the 2010 base year.
The average price of regular gasoline in Japan fell to Y139.4 in
the week that started on July 9, the lowest since Y139.0 in the Feb.
28, 2011 week, according to the recent data from the Agency for Natural
Resources and Energy.
A recent government survey also showed consumers’ inflation
expectations were more or less flat from the previous month.
The percentage of people forecasting higher prices in a year’s time
stood at 60.6% of the total on an unadjusted basis in July, down from
61.3% in the previous month, according to the survey by the Cabinet
Office.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-6860-4821 **
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