Wholesale prices rose 2.9 percent in February from a year earlier for the 24th consecutive monthly rise, marking the highest growth in 16 years, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
The prices, gauged by the BOJ's corporate goods price index, came to 99.3 against a base of 100 for 2000, the central bank said in a preliminary report.
The CGPI also logged 2.9 percent growth in March 1990.
The market sees the upward wholesale price trend as a sign that the economy may soon be pulling out of deflation.
The CGPI's rise in February was mainly attributed to a 30.4 percent jump in prices of petroleum and coal products from a year before, spurred by high crude oil prices, a BOJ official said.
Prices of nonferrous metals soared 30.2 percent, reflecting brisk demand in the global market as well as an influx of speculative investment on products, the official said.
Prices of chemical products gained 4.6 percent on the back of high oil costs.
In contrast, prices of electrical machinery and equipment, including digital cameras, fell 2.8 percent in February from a year earlier.
On a month-to-month basis, wholesale prices gained 0.4 percent from January.