By Leika Kihara
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s wholesale prices rose 9.0% in August from the previous year, matching the year-on-year pace of growth hit in July, data showed on Tuesday, signalling that persistently high raw material costs continued to squeeze corporate margins.
The rise in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, roughly matched a median market forecast for a 8.9% increase, Bank of Japan data showed.
Reflecting easing input pressure, however, wholesale prices rose just 0.2% in August from the previous month, slower than a revised 0.7% month-on-month increase marked in July.
The yen-based import price index rose 42.5% in August from a year earlier, after a revised 49.1% increase in July, the data showed.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Tom Hogue)
