TOKYO: Japan's wholesale prices likely stayed at a record high in March, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, in a sign surging fuel and commodity costs are sharply squeezing corporate profits and stoking broader inflationary pressures across the economy.
Separate data is also expected to show core machinery orders fell for the second straight month in February, according to the poll, cooling the outlook for capital spending.
Japan's corporate goods price index (CGPI), a gauge of prices firms charge each other, likely rose 9.3% in March from a year earlier, the poll of 17 economists showed.
The forecast pace is unchanged from the previous month's rate, which logged the fastest growth under comparable data dating back to 1981.
"Manufacturers are passing on higher costs to final goods prices as price pressures mount on imported raw materials and other goods...given Russia's invasion of Ukraine," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, which Moscow calls a 'special military operation', has supercharged already rising commodity and fuel prices and have kept global policymakers busy trying to contain red-hot inflationary pressures.
Japan households projecting higher inflation hits 14-year high
Core machinery orders, a leading indicator of capital expenditure, likely dipped 1.5% month-on-month in February, following a 2.0% decline in January, the poll also showed.
The forecast data outcomes underscore Japan's feeble economic recovery as rising raw material costs pinch corporate margins and may prod them to hold off on investments, analysts say.
The Bank of Japan will release the CGPI data at 8:50 a.m. on Apr. 12 (2350 GMT, Apr. 11).
The machinery orders data is due out 8:50 a.m. on Apr. 13 (2350GMT, Apr. 12).
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