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LEAD: Japan's 2008 wholesale prices show biggest rise in 28 yrs+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Jan. 15_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: RECASTING WITH INFO ON 2008. 2ND LEAD TO FOLLOW) Japan's wholesale prices rose 4.6 percent in 2008 from a year earlier, showing the biggest increase in 28 years, for the fifth consecutive year of growth on sharp rises in oil and other commodity prices, the Bank of Japan said Thursday. The central bank's corporate goods price index stood at 108.8 against the year 2005 base of 100, the BOJ said in a preliminary report. The rise was the fastest since 1980 when the index grew 15.0 percent amid the impact of the oil shock since late the 1970s. During the 12 months through December, prices for petroleum and coal products increased 23.6 percent as crude oil prices continued to rise until around summer. Iron and steel prices gained 20.0 percent, while prices for scrap and waste grew 20.0 percent with prices for pulp, paper and related products up 6.9 percent. In December alone, the index grew 1.1 percent from a year before to 106.6, marking the slowest pace of increase in over four years as energy and raw material costs continued to slide. The result was slightly higher than the average market forecast of a 0.9 percent gain in a Kyodo News survey but was the smallest rate of increase since May 2004 when the index climbed only 0.9 percent. While prices for iron and steel products were up 23.5 percent and prices for pulp, paper and related products gained 8.3 percent, such an upward momentum was weakened by prices for nonferrous metal products, down 23.5 percent, and petroleum and coal products, minus 19.1 percent. On a month-on-month basis, wholesale prices fell 1.2 percent from November, logging a smaller decline than a projected 1.5 percent fall. Import prices were down 22.7 percent year-on-year in yen terms and fell 8.8 percent in terms of contract currencies. Export prices lost 14.9 percent in terms of the Japanese currency and slid 0.6 percent on the basis of contract currencies. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |