The Producer Price Index of Japan edged down 0.1 percent year-on-year in June 2019, following a downwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in the previous month and below market expectations of a 0.3 percent rise. Cost of petroleum & coal products dropped (-5.5 percent vs 1.0 percent in May) and prices fell further for chemicals (-2.4 percent vs -1.7 percent); nonferrous metals (-9.3 percent vs -6.2 percent); information & communications equipment (-1.3 percent vs -1.2 percent); and lumber & wood products (-0.9 percent vs -0.8 percent). Also, cost slowed for textiles (1.4 percent vs 1.7 percent); plastic (1.5 percent vs 1.9 percent); iron & steel (1.1 percent vs 1.4 percent); metal products (2 percent vs 2.4 percent)and beverage & foods (1.1 percent vs 1.3 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices went down 0.5 percent, after a 0.1 percent decline in the prior month. Producer Prices Change in Japan averaged 1.41 percent from 1961 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 33.90 percent in February of 1974 and a record low of -8.60 percent in August of 2009.
Producer Prices Change in Japan is expected to be 0.70 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Producer Prices Change in Japan to stand at 1.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Japan Producer Prices Change is projected to trend around 1.80 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.