Japan Services Producer Prices Rise 1.8％ in Feb.

Jiji Press

10:30 JST, March 28, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s services producer prices in February rose 1.8% from a year before, up for the 24th consecutive month, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

The services producer price index, which measures the cost of services provided to corporate customers, stood at 107.6 against the 2015 base of 100, the central bank said.

Amid receding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, growing travel demand and the resumption events led to hikes of prices of related services. Rising materials and personnel costs also pushed up some services prices.

Hotel service prices jumped 30.1%, reflecting a recovery of travel demand and an increase of tourists from abroad.

The expanded travel demand also led to hikes in advertising service prices, with newspaper ad prices rising 7% and internet ad prices going up 5.6%. Fees for international air passenger transportation increased 24%.

Laundry service prices climbed 14.2% amid higher energy costs. Worker dispatch service prices rose 1.5%, reflecting increases of labor costs for professional engineers such as those engaged in software development.

According to the BOJ, prices rose in 97 of 146 service categories and fell in 18 categories.