Japan May PPI rises 0.9% month on month, annual rate hits 6.3%

Japan’s producer price inflation strengthened in May, with the producer price index, or PPI (a gauge of prices companies charge each other), rising 0.9% from the previous month and 6.3% from a year earlier. The monthly increase was the second-highest reading since October 2022. April’s figure was also revised higher by 0.5 percentage points to 2.8%, marking the highest reading since 2014. The data points to intensifying inflationary pressure at the wholesale level, a trend markets often watch for clues on how cost increases could feed through to consumers and broader monetary policy expectations.