ID :
55277
Tue, 04/14/2009 - 05:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/55277
The shortlink copeid
March wholesale prices down 2.2% on yr, biggest fall since May 2002+
TOKYO, April 13 Kyodo - Japanese wholesale prices in March dropped 2.2 percent from a year earlier for the sharpest fall in nearly seven years due to falling demand amid the weakening of the economy, the Bank of Japan said Monday, fueling deflation
fears in the country.
The prices, gauged by the central bank's corporate goods price index, stood at
104.3 against the 2005 base of 100, the BOJ said in a preliminary report.
The headline reading fell for the third consecutive month, and marked the
largest drop since May 2002. The decline was also greater than the average
market forecast of a 1.7 percent fall in a Kyodo News poll of economic think
tanks.
''The recent economic slowdown depressed final demand, contributing to price
declines,'' a BOJ official said, referring to depressed prices for a variety of
products including petroleum products, foods such as salmon and beef, and
plastic products.
Contributing the most to the March wholesale price index's decline were falls
of prices in the petroleum and coal products segment, down 34.6 percent from a
year earlier, and those in the nonferrous metal category, down 30.5 percent.
Prices for agricultural and marine products dropped 4.4 percent as consumers
tightened their purse strings especially for beef and other higher priced
foods, and shifted to lower priced products.
While posting a 10.6 percent yearly rise, steel and iron prices have notably
fallen on a month-on-month basis recently, logging a 1.8 percent drop in March
followed by a revised 1.5 percent drop in February.
''Deflationary forces are expected to strengthen gradually hereafter, and it
appears that the wholesale price index is heading toward a year-on-year drop of
as large as 6 percent'' by around September, said Kyohei Morita, chief
economist at Barclays Capital Japan Ltd.
Japan's fresh stimulus package involving record public spending adopted last
Friday will not be enough to halt the deflationary trend, Morita added, citing
a deteriorating job market, which is likely to cause consumers to spend less
and prices to decline further.
On a month-on-month basis, prices were down 0.2 percent from February,
continuing to fall for the seventh straight month since September 2008 amid the
deepening global financial turmoil. The reading matched a projection of a 0.2
percent slide in the Kyodo News poll.
For fiscal 2008 that ended March 31, Japanese wholesale prices rose 3.3 percent
from the previous year to an index reading of 108.4, boosted by a surge in
crude oil prices in the first half of the business year. The rise was the
largest since fiscal 1980 when the prices jumped 12.5 percent.
Import prices in March were down 19.6 percent year-on-year in yen terms and
slipped 17.2 percent in terms of contract currencies.
Export prices lost 7.5 percent in terms of the Japanese currency and fell 3.2
percent on a contract currencies basis.
The BOJ's index measures fluctuations in the prices of products traded between
companies, mainly industrial components, and the gauge is seen as a leading
indicator for consumer prices.
==Kyodo
fears in the country.
The prices, gauged by the central bank's corporate goods price index, stood at
104.3 against the 2005 base of 100, the BOJ said in a preliminary report.
The headline reading fell for the third consecutive month, and marked the
largest drop since May 2002. The decline was also greater than the average
market forecast of a 1.7 percent fall in a Kyodo News poll of economic think
tanks.
''The recent economic slowdown depressed final demand, contributing to price
declines,'' a BOJ official said, referring to depressed prices for a variety of
products including petroleum products, foods such as salmon and beef, and
plastic products.
Contributing the most to the March wholesale price index's decline were falls
of prices in the petroleum and coal products segment, down 34.6 percent from a
year earlier, and those in the nonferrous metal category, down 30.5 percent.
Prices for agricultural and marine products dropped 4.4 percent as consumers
tightened their purse strings especially for beef and other higher priced
foods, and shifted to lower priced products.
While posting a 10.6 percent yearly rise, steel and iron prices have notably
fallen on a month-on-month basis recently, logging a 1.8 percent drop in March
followed by a revised 1.5 percent drop in February.
''Deflationary forces are expected to strengthen gradually hereafter, and it
appears that the wholesale price index is heading toward a year-on-year drop of
as large as 6 percent'' by around September, said Kyohei Morita, chief
economist at Barclays Capital Japan Ltd.
Japan's fresh stimulus package involving record public spending adopted last
Friday will not be enough to halt the deflationary trend, Morita added, citing
a deteriorating job market, which is likely to cause consumers to spend less
and prices to decline further.
On a month-on-month basis, prices were down 0.2 percent from February,
continuing to fall for the seventh straight month since September 2008 amid the
deepening global financial turmoil. The reading matched a projection of a 0.2
percent slide in the Kyodo News poll.
For fiscal 2008 that ended March 31, Japanese wholesale prices rose 3.3 percent
from the previous year to an index reading of 108.4, boosted by a surge in
crude oil prices in the first half of the business year. The rise was the
largest since fiscal 1980 when the prices jumped 12.5 percent.
Import prices in March were down 19.6 percent year-on-year in yen terms and
slipped 17.2 percent in terms of contract currencies.
Export prices lost 7.5 percent in terms of the Japanese currency and fell 3.2
percent on a contract currencies basis.
The BOJ's index measures fluctuations in the prices of products traded between
companies, mainly industrial components, and the gauge is seen as a leading
indicator for consumer prices.
==Kyodo
