Japan's wholesale inflation accelerated in February at the fastest annual pace in roughly four decades as fuel costs rose, in a sign inflationary pressures were building even before the Ukraine crisis triggered a broad surge in commodity prices.
The recent war-driven uptrend in goods prices ranging from oil and metals to grain will likely keep pushing up wholesale prices in a fresh hit to Japan's resource-poor economy, which is heavily reliant on imported raw materials, analysts say.
"Even if the war in Ukraine ends, sanctions against Russia will remain and keep prices high mainly for fuel," said Takumi Tsunoda, senior economist at Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute.