Tokyo’s headline inflation rate climbed in October as energy costs returned to annual growth, while two measures excluding volatile categories slowed; the rate excluding fresh food remained above the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) 2% target, preliminary data showed Friday.
The Statistics Bureau of Japan reported that the all-items consumer price index reached 103.5, using 2025 as the base year, and rose 2.8% from a year earlier. The annual rate was 2.7% in September. The index excluding fresh food rose 2.6%, down from 2.7%, while the index excluding both fresh food and energy also increased 2.6%, compared with 2.9% a month earlier.
Food excluding fresh food rose 3.0% year over year, easing from 3.6% in September. Its contribution to the all-items inflation rate fell to 0.71 percentage point from 0.83 percentage point. Fresh food added 0.26 percentage point to the headline rate’s year-over-year increase, the bureau said.
The official energy category rose 2.2% after falling 1.9% in September. Electricity prices increased 1.7%, following a 2.6% decline, while city-gas prices rose 4.9% after slipping 0.5%. Energy’s contribution to the all-items rate shifted to 0.09 percentage point from minus 0.08 percentage point.
Separate BOJ producer-price data showed prices for beverages and foods rose 4.2% year over year in September, slightly below the 4.3% increase in August. Overall producer-price inflation slowed to 6.8% from 7.6% over the same period.
Tokyo’s mid-month CPI is released ahead of nationwide results and serves as a leading indicator, according to the Statistics Bureau. The October national CPI is scheduled for Nov. 20, and the preliminary November Tokyo CPI is due Nov. 27.
