Japan Producer Prices Rise at Faster Pace

Japan’s producer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in August 2025, accelerating from a marginally revised 2.5% increase in the previous month, in line with market expectations. Cost pressures strengthened for transport equipment (2.0% vs 1.8% in July), beverages and foods (5.0% vs 4.7%), general-purpose machinery (4.0% vs 3.7%), and other manufacturing (3.8% vs 3.5%). Prices also jumped sharply for non-ferrous metals (6.2% vs 0.3%). In contrast, price growth slowed for electrical machinery (2.9% vs 3.0%), production machinery (1.6% vs 1.8%), metal products (3.8% vs 4.6%), plastics (2.7% vs 2.8%), information services (1.4% vs 1.8%), and business-oriented machinery (1.3% vs 2.4%). Meanwhile, prices fell further for chemicals (-3.9% vs -4.4%), iron and steel (-6.4% vs -6.3%), and petroleum and coal products (-1.5% vs -2.0%). On a monthly basis, however, prices declined 0.2%, steeper than forecasts for a 0.1% fall and following an upwardly revised 0.3% gain in July.