TOKYO- Japan’s wholesale prices fell at a slower pace in February for a third straight month, offering an encouraging sign a recent rebound in fuel costs and pick-up in domestic demand will ease deflationary pressures across the economy.
The 0.7 percent year-on-year drop in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, follows a 1.5 percent annual decrease in January, Bank of Japan data showed on Thursday.
Oil prices fell 6.3 percent in February from a year earlier, a much smaller drop than a 14.4 percent decline in January, reflecting global rises in commodity and fuel costs, the data showed.
Steel and wood goods also rose last month thanks to a gradual recovery in domestic demand, a BOJ official told a briefing.
