The Producer Price Index of Japan rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year in April 2019, edging down from a 1.3 percent increase in the previous month and above market expectations of 1.1 percent. Main upward pressure came from prices for petroleum & coal products, up 4.2 percent from 3.1 percent in March. In contrast, main downward pressure came from lower inflation for food & beverages (0.8 percent vs 1.2 percent) and deflation for nonferrous metals (-2.7 percent vs -2.2 percent), electronic machinery & equipment (-1.9 percent vs -0.3 percent), and electronic components & devices (-0.7 percent vs -0.2 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices increased by 0.3 percent, the same pace as in the previous month. Producer Prices Change in Japan averaged 1.42 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 1.10 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 1.90 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.