Wholesale prices rose 2.9 percent in October from a year earlier for the 19th straight month of increase, but the pace of growth slowed amid recent falls in crude oil prices, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
The index of corporate goods prices stood at 105.5 against the 2010 base of 100, the BOJ said in a preliminary report.
The result was slightly weaker than forecasts by private-sector analysts. The pace of rise was slower than an upwardly revised 3.6 percent in September and 3.9 percent in August.
Prices for petroleum and coal products rose 2.0 percent, but the gain was limited compared with previous months due to falling oil prices, which also affected a slower pace of increase in chemical product prices, the BOJ said.
The overall rise in corporate goods prices was mainly driven by higher raw material costs, including those of metal products, nonferrous metals, and iron and steel. The weaker yen pushed up the import price of aluminum and other nonferrous metals.
Excluding the direct effect of the April consumption tax hike, the index only grew 0.1 percent to 102.6, the slowest pace of rise in 18 months.
On a month-on-month basis, the index fell 0.8 percent from September for the first decline in two months, with the tax hike impact included. The rate of fall was marginally larger than market forecasts.
Import prices rose 4.3 percent year on year and export prices grew 4.0 percent, both in yen terms.