TOKYO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan's corporate goods price index, which measures the costs of goods traded between businesses, stood flat year-on-year at 119.9, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said Tuesday.
The reading was down 0.3 percentage points from the November growth and the lowest since February 2021, the BOJ said in a report.
The slowdown in wholesale prices was due partly to government subsidies to curb petrol and utility bills, according to the central bank.
The biggest contributor to the increases in corporate prices for the month was the price of ceramic, stone and clay products, which rose 11.6 percent from a year earlier, while that of pulp and paper as well as other manufacturing industry products rose 8.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, according to the report.
For the whole year of 2023, Japan's corporate goods index rose 4.1 percent year-on-year to 119.6, reaching its highest level since data became comparable in 1980, although the growth rate slowed from 9.8 percent in 2022.
The corporate goods price index, as one of the country's important inflation gauges, measures prices that companies charge each other for goods and services. ■