TOKYO: Japan’s core consumer price inflation probably accelerated in November, driven by persistently high rice prices and the phasing out of utility subsidies, a Reuters poll showed on Friday (Dec 13).
The core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, was expected to have risen 2.6 per cent in November from a year earlier, compared with 2.3 per cent in October, a poll of 18 economists showed.
“On top of higher prices in rice, food and industrial product prices, energy prices were also pushed up as the government trimmed subsidies for electricity and city gas bills,” Mizuho Research & Technologies said in a report.
The internal affairs ministry will release November CPI data on Dec. 20 at 8.30am.
The poll also showed exports are expected to have risen 2.8 per cent in November from a year earlier, slowing from a 3.1 per cent increase in October.
Imports were estimated to have expanded 1 per cent from a year earlier, resulting in a deficit of 688.9 billion yen (US$4.50 billion). Imports rose 0.4 per cent in October.
“Global trade remained sluggish but the yen’s weakness since mid-September likely boosted the value of exports,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
Machinery orders, a highly volatile but leading indicator of capital spending for the coming six to nine months, probably rose 1.2 per cent in October from the previous month, following a 0.7 per cent drop in September, according to the poll.
The finance ministry will publish the trade data at 8.50am on Dec 18, while the Cabinet Office will announce the machinery orders data at 8.50am on Dec 16.