The BOJ said producer prices, the prices of goods traded between companies, have increased for the 27th consecutive month, although the pace of increase has slowed for a fifth straight month in May.
May's figure marked the slowest gain since June 2021, when wholesale prices rose 5.0 percent, the BOJ's data showed, but also came on the heels of a 5.9 percent expansion booked a month earlier.
This was, in part, owing to government subsidy programs to bring down the cost of fuel, but inflation has continued to drive up prices, the figures suggested, and for over a year prices have remained well above the central bank's inflation target of 2 percent.
The Producer Price Index fell 0.7 percent from the previous month, the bank said, while the Export Price Index shed 0.2 percent from a month earlier. The Import Price Index, meanwhile, edged down 0.1 percent in the recording period, the BOJ's data showed.
Export prices gained 2.0 percent in the recording period, with the bank saying food and beverage prices increased 7.9 percent, pushing up the overall index, along with the prices of minerals climbing 14.7 percent.
Electricity, gas, and water bills jumped 13.1 percent, although gains were capped by government subsidies, the BOJ's data showed.
Petroleum and coal products dropped 1.8 percent, following sharp gains, with prices for energy-linked products further inflated by a weak yen.
Import prices, for their part, declined 5.4 percent from a year earlier, marking the second straight month of decline, the BOJ said. Import costs had been further inflated by the yen's sharp fall last year, further pushing up prices for the resource-poor country, the data has indicated.
A central bank official said that the effects on import prices would be monitored, such as the impact of moves in commodity prices and foreign exchange rates, as well as how higher costs will be passed on to consumers.
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