Domestic wholesale prices dropped 1.1 percent last month from a year before for the 12th consecutive month of decline, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
It was the largest decline since the 1.2 percent fall in September 1999, and it was the fourth straight month that the margin of decline expanded, the BOJ said.
The domestic wholesale price index came to 95.2 for the reporting month against the base of 100 for 1995, the BOJ said. The index edged down 0.2 percent from the previous month.
Prices of petroleum and coal products rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier, but steel fell 3.4 percent, nonferrous metal dropped 1.2 percent and electrical equipment prices fell 5.4 percent, the BOJ said.
Export prices -- measured in yen terms -- grew 2.6 percent from a year before due to a stronger yen, but dropped 2.1 percent from the previous month, the central bank said.