News On Japan

Japan Producer Prices Rise 6.3% to Highest Level in Over Three Years

TOKYO - Japan's corporate goods prices rose 6.3% in May from a year earlier, marking the fastest pace of increase in more than three years as higher oil and petrochemical costs linked to tensions in the Middle East pushed up wholesale prices.

The Bank of Japan said on June 10th that the preliminary Corporate Goods Price Index (CGPI), which measures prices of goods traded between companies, stood at 134.5 in May.

The annual rate of increase accelerated from 5.3% in April, exceeding market expectations and reaching its highest level since March 2023, the strongest growth in three years and two months.

Rising crude oil and naphtha prices, driven by worsening conditions in the Middle East, contributed significantly to the increase. Compared with a year earlier, prices for petroleum and coal products climbed 13.8%, while chemical products rose 13.4%.

The data highlights mounting cost pressures on Japanese businesses as higher energy and raw material prices continue to filter through supply chains.

Source: テレ東BIZ

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A police officer fired a warning shot into the air after a 42-year-old woman approached officers while pointing a kitchen knife at them on a street in Eniwa, Hokkaido, on July 17.

A 45-year-old man was arrested early July 20 after allegedly crashing a passenger car into a convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and walking around the parking lot carrying a kitchen knife and a golf club.

A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."

The rainy season ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions on July 20 as strengthening high pressure brought intense heat across Japan, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 C in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, and Kofu.

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