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Economy Inflation in Japan hits record 4%

thomas

Unswerving cyclist
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Japan's consumer inflation rate hit a 41-year high of 4% in December, as prices for everything from burgers to gas surged. That rate is still relatively low compared to other nations. Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has been fending off deflation, or chronically falling prices, for decades. The last time core consumer prices rose that much was December 1981, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.


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The core consumer price index -- which excludes fresh foods -- increased 4% from a year earlier, up from 3.7% in November, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Last month's figure marked the sharpest rise since December 1981. Prices of electricity increased by 21.3%, while grains rose by 9.6%. Last year's core consumer inflation rate averaged 2.3%. The statistics come two days after the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged in its latest monetary policy meeting. The 4% rise in December means that Japan's core inflation has surpassed the BOJ's price stability target of 2% for the ninth consecutive month.


Paywall alert:
 
4 percent
What are we living in, the Joe Biden mind?
try 31% on the average price of potato chips. Yes, they down size the bag from 172 grams now to 158 grams and the price is 212 yen now

Use to be prices were raised once a year.
Now every time one goes shopping here , prices ARE jacked up.
 
4 percent
What are we living in, the Joe Biden mind?
try 31% on the average price of potato chips. Yes, they down size the bag from 172 grams now to 158 grams and the price is 212 yen now

Not sure what Joe Biden's got to do with Japanese inflation, but perhaps it's a good time to break with bad habits (potato chips)? :p

More concerning:

Prices of electricity increased 21.3%, while grains rose 9.6%.
 
Japan's consumer prices rose 4.2 per cent in January 2023 compared to last year, a level not seen since September 1981, fuelled in part by higher energy bills. The 4.2 per cent rise, which excludes volatile fresh food, is below the still sky-high levels that have sparked concern in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, but far exceeds the Bank of Japan's longstanding inflation goal of two per cent. The market had expected a 4.3 per cent increase in January prices.


When both fresh food and energy prices are excluded, the figure for January is 3.2 per cent. Increases in electricity and gas bills, as well as telecommunication fees and price hikes for a range of processed foods contributed to the January acceleration, the government data showed. However, analysts expect that government measures to address fuel costs will help curb inflation in February. The figures have added to the pressure on Japan's central bank to consider tightening its longstanding super-loose monetary policy.


 
Cosmos eggs 119 yen today 229 yen for 10 eggs in less then 7 months. 4% inflation rate, hmm...
I understand people are holding back on spending, but here locally, I'm surprised to see McDonalds now with a single hamburger on the menu is hidden at a cost of 170 yen. I won't be buying them, coffee at 120 yen up from 100 yen. These are just some examples of how prices are changing. Funny thing, hard liquor is still cheap, not beer though.
 
Cosmos eggs 119 yen today 229 yen for 10 eggs in less then 7 months. 4% inflation rate, hmm...


As for the eggs:

An avian influenza outbreak and rising feed costs are behind a shortage of chicken eggs in Japan that has led to rising prices for popular restaurant items including beef bowl dishes as well as the household staple mayonnaise. Poultry farmers were already reducing the number of egg-laying hens in response to soaring feed prices fueled by the war in Ukraine when bird flu hit Japan late last year. The increase in chicken culls has made the supply of eggs unstable, causing wholesale prices to skyrocket. Tetsuro Nomura, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said last week that bird flu cases had been detected in 25 of the country's 47 prefectures since October, and 14.78 million birds had been culled as of Friday morning last week. As of Wednesday, the wholesale price of medium-size eggs was 335 JPY ($2.49) per kilogram in Tokyo, 81% higher than the same day last year, according to statistics from egg seller JA. Z-Tamago, a unit of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations. That exceeds the average wholesale price for January -- the last full month for which data are available -- which averaged 280 yen, the highest level since 1986. [Source]
 
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