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Consumer price index up 0.8% in January on higher gasoline, kerosene, food prices

February 29, 2008
By Ken Worsley


Earlier today, the Statistics Bureau announced that Japan’s core consumer prices had risen 0.8% in January compared to the same month last year. This matches the figure seen from December, and is the fourth straight month in which we’ve seen a rise in the nation’s core CPI. Before we go any further, let’s take a look at all four consumer price measurement yardsticks and how they each fared in January:

  • January general nationwide consumer price index: +0.7%
  • January general nationwide consumer price index (excluding rent): +0.9%
  • January nationwide core CPI (excluding fresh food): +0.8%
  • January nationwide consumer price index (excluding fresh food and energy): -0.1%

Those year-on-year comparison figures are actually no different from what we saw in December, in all four categories. However, the nationwide consumer price index excluding fresh food and energy was 0.6% lower than in December.

Nonetheless, consumer prices are now on an upward trend, though they are clearly being driven by energy and food prices. The ministry’s report tells us that gasoline prices have risen 16.1% from a year ago, and kerosene prices have leaped 24.9%. At the same time, spaghetti prices have shot up over ten percent, owning to the rise in wheat prices.

So what’s getting cheaper? Laptop and digital camera prices both fell over 30%, while cellular phone fees were down about 4%. We seem to remember the government saying that it was going to strip discounted cellular phone package prices from CPI due to the fact that they did not reflect ‘reality’. Right.

Here’s a breakdown of the categories and their price changes in January 2008:

  • Fuel, light and water charges +3.7%
  • Transportation and communication +2.6%
  • Clothes and footwear +0.8%
  • Education +0.7%
  • Miscellaneous +0.6%
  • Food +0.5%
  • Housing 0.0
  • Reading and recreation -0.5%
  • Furniture and household utensils -1.6%

This certainly looks like a trend we’re going to continue seeing, at least for the rest of the first half of 2008, as oil and gas prices will no doubt remain above their 2007 levels and thus force up shipping, transportation, food, and other related costs. We’ll be looking at the household spending data next, wondering how these higher prices will have affected spending on food and utilities.

Filed Under Consumer Price Index, Economic Reports, Economics 

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One Response to “Consumer price index up 0.8% in January on higher gasoline, kerosene, food prices”

  1. Japan’s household spending jumps 3.6% in January, beating forecasts Japan Economy News & Blog - Business, Economy, Marketing and Economic Reports on March 1st, 2008 12:13 am

    […] TVs, mobile phone services and domestic package tours being particularly high. As we learned in the most recent Consumer Price Index report, flat-panel TV prices are falling, while cellular phone fees are down about 4% from a year ago. We […]

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