Japan's corporate goods prices decline 2.1% on year in January

The price of corporate goods in Japan posted a year on year decline of 2.1 percent, according to preliminary data released by the Bank of Japan on Wednesday.

Month on month, prices rose by 0.3 percent, and stood at 102.4 against the 2005 base average of 100.

The price of exports on year rose slightly 0.1 percent but fell 0.1 percent from a month earlier, according to the central bank.

The pricing of all commodity exports booked a quarterly yen rise of 1.1 percent.

Transportation equipment prices rose 3.2 percent from December, adding 3.3 percent on a yen basis, however prices relating to electric and electronic products slumped a preliminary 5.1 percent from a month earlier, losing 2.5 percent in terms of yen value.

BOJ chief economist Kazuo Momma said earlier in January that domestic demand is too weak to sustain export-led expansion. When excluding fluctuations in oil costs, price declines have yet to ease, he said.

Other analysts have corroborated this notion in indicating that the price declines could result in a new, broad based era of "home- made" deflation, which is linked to a lack of domestic demand.

Source:Xinhua