Japan’s wholesale price inflation edged up in September, due mainly to higher prices of everyday food items such as rice.

The Bank of Japan said the preliminary Producer Price Index was up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, a slightly greater increase than the 2.6 percent rise marked in August, Japan’s NHK Radio reported.

The index measures the prices companies charge each other for goods and services.

BOJ officials attribute the higher rice prices to rising costs of transportation and fertilizers. Egg prices also went up amid unseasonably hot weather.

The BOJ figures show September import prices decreased 2.6 percent in yen terms from a year earlier, marking their first decline since January. Officials cited a stronger yen and cheaper crude oil.

October has brought a spate of price hikes for various goods and services across Japan.

Central bank officials are keeping a close watch on whether rising labor costs will be reflected in the prices businesses charge each other.

Source: Qatar News Agency