— Japan Nov CGPI +1.7% Y/Y; MNI Poll Median Forecast: +1.5%
— Japan CGPI Posts 14th Straight Y/Y Rise; Oct Revised +1.6%

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s corporate goods price index rose 1.7% from a
year earlier in November, marking the 14th consecutive y/y rise with the
pace of increase little changed from a downwardly revised +1.6% in
October amid slowing global demand, data released by the Bank of Japan
Monday showed.

Petroleum product and processed food prices marked slightly larger
year-on-year gains in November than in October while year-on-year drops
in transport equipment and general machinery prices widened last month.

The November CGPI figure came in higher than the median forecast
for a 1.5% rise in a Market News International survey of economists.

The 1.6% rise in October was the smallest gain since Feb, when the
index also rose 1.7% on year. CGPI rose 2.8% in July, posting the
largest y/y increase since +4.5% in October 2008.

From the previous month, CGPI rose 0.1% in November, marking the
first m/m rise in four months after falling a revised 0.8% in October,
when the end of an electric power surcharge during the summer months
weighed on producer prices.

Commodity prices, the key driver behind the recent gains in CGPI,
are not rising as sharply as before amid slower global growth. The
continued strong yen is also lowering import costs.

The BOJ’s overseas commodity index — composed of 17 items
including crude oil, copper, gold, wheat and beef — stood at 193.8
(against 100.0 for the 2005 base year) in November, up 16.5% on year but
slowing from +20.8% in October.

The dollar-yen exchange rate averaged Y77.5 in November, compared
with Y76.7 in October and Y82.4 in November 2010.

The number of CGPI items whose prices rose from a year earlier
totaled 393 in November, or 46.0% of the basket, up from 386, or 45.1%,
in October, while the number of items whose prices fell came to 314, or
36.7%, down from 319, or 37.3% in the previous month.

The index has recovered steadily from the record 8.5% drop marked
in August and July 2009, which were the largest year-on-year declines
since the BOJ began compiling the data in 1960.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **

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