— Japan July Total CSPI Posts 34th Straight Y/Y Drop; June -0.8%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s corporate service price index fell 0.5% in
July from a year earlier, the 34th consecutive year-on-year drop, with
the pace of decline decelerating further from a revised 0.8% fall in
June, Bank of Japan data released on Wednesday showed.
The July figure marked the smallest y/y drop since October 2008,
when the index was down 0.2%.
The downward pressure on prices has generally eased since total
CSPI posted a record drop of -3.8% in August 2009, which was the largest
decline since the BOJ began compiling CSPI data in January 1985.
The smaller year-on-year drop in July was mainly due to higher
costs for advertising services, transportation, leasing and rental,
information and communications as well as finance and insurance.
They outpaced lower costs for real estate services and other
services including civil engineering and temporary staffing.
The CSPI, which stood at 96.4 in July against 100 in the 2005 base
year, was unchanged from the previous month after rising 0.3% in June.
The corporate services price index tracks prices for a wide range
of corporate services, ranging from finance and insurance charges to the
cost of shipping goods by road rail, air or sea.
It also includes software development costs, telecommunications
charges and legal and accounting fees.
In 2009, the BOJ changed the base year for its corporate service
price index to 2005 from 2000, which takes place every five years, while
reshuffling the services covered in the data to reflect more high-tech
and diversified business activity, effective September 2009 data.
Under the 2005 base year, the total CSPI hit a recent peak of 102.0
in July 2008, when demand from China to import iron ore and coal ahead
of the Beijing Olympics peaked, pushing up global ship chartering and
freight charges.
tokyo@marketnews.com
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