The wholesale inflation rate slowed for a second month in September, adding to evidence that cost increases driven by oil and commodities have peaked, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
Producer prices, the costs companies pay for energy and raw materials, climbed 6.8 percent from a year earlier after a 7.2 percent increase in August, the central bank said.
Slower wholesale inflation will provide some respite for companies whose profits have been eroded by soaring energy prices in the past year. But that may not mean Japan will be able to dodge a recession as the fallout from the global financial crisis poses a bigger risk to the economy.