Japan inflation data recap - Fuel, raw material costs remain drivers of price gains

The data post is here, headline and core up, but core-core down:

Japan CPI data for December, headline 0.8% y/y,core +0.5%, core-core -0.7%

Says Reuters:

• Japan's core consumer prices rose 0.5% in December from a year earlier, increasing for a second month in a row at the fastest pace in nearly two years in a sign of broadening inflationary pressure from rising fuel and raw material costs.
• The recent inflation pick-up drew the attention of Bank of Japan (BOJ) policymakers, some of whom said firms might be starting to be more aggressive in passing on higher costs to consumers, minutes of their December interest rate-setting meeting showed on Friday.

(Link to the minutes can be found here:

BOJ (December) meeting minutes (link to full text)

)

There no prospect of any imminent hiking move, or much else, from the Bank of Japan. The price rises seen in the data are due to factors external to the count ry, domestic demand is still soft. And, the BOPJ target is 2%, which, as you all now, is a long way off.