Japan's preliminary Corporate Goods Price Index rose 7.2% from a year earlier in July to a record 135.8, marking a slight slowdown from June's 7.3% but staying above 7% for a second straight month. The data showed corporate input costs remained elevated as higher resource prices linked to worsening Middle East tensions spread across a broad range of goods, with 434 of 515 items posting increases. Nonferrous metals climbed 40.6%, petroleum and coal products rose 17.5%, information and communications equipment gained 17.3%, and chemical products increased 12.9%. The yen's weakness continued to amplify imported inflation pressure. Japan's yen-based Import Price Index rose 29.1% from a year earlier to 199.7, with the Bank of Japan indicating the currency's depreciation against the dollar was the main driver. The report reinforced concerns that higher overseas procurement costs are weighing on domestic corporate earnings and could feed through from upstream prices into consumer inflation if companies continue passing on costs. The cost squeeze is increasingly hitting smaller businesses. Tokyo Shoko Research said bankruptcies attributed to high prices rose 20.7% from a year earlier to 93 cases in July, the eighth consecutive monthly increase and above the previous monthly record of 88 set in May 2024. The January-July total reached 533 cases, and restaurants recorded the most failures at 19 as high food and utility costs proved difficult to pass on. The figures add to the pressure on the BOJ ahead of its September 17-18 Monetary Policy Meeting, where officials are expected to assess price trends alongside the yen's renewed weakness near 159 per dollar. The corporate goods data are closely watched as a leading indicator for Japan's Consumer Price Index because they reflect pricing at the upstream stage of the supply chain.