Japan’s inflation picked up in September, with core CPI (excluding fresh food) rising from 2.7% to 2.9% yoy, matching expectations and marking the first acceleration in four months. The key gauge has stayed at or above the BoJ’s 2% target since April 2022. Headline CPI also rose from 2.7% to 2.9% yoy, in line with the core measure.
Underlying momentum was uneven. Core-core CPI, which strips out both energy and fresh food and is considered a closer measure of domestic demand, slowed to 3.0% from 3.3% yoy, suggesting that broader inflationary pressures are gradually easing.
Food prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace — non-fresh food prices gained 7.6%, down from 8.0% in August. Rice prices, which spiked earlier this year, rose 49.2%, their fourth consecutive month of deceleration after peaking at more than 100% growth in May.
Meanwhile, service prices, a metric closely watched by the BoJ for its link to wage growth, increased 1.4%, slightly below August’s 1.5%.
 rising from 2.7% to 2.9% yoy, matching expectations and marking the first acceleration in four months. The key gauge has stayed at or above the BoJ’s 2% target since April 2022. Headline CPI also rose from 2.7% to 2.9% yoy, in line with the core measure.){kind=link}