Cost of living higher for 6th month in row

The consumer price index rose for the sixth straight month in March, partly reflecting higher prices overseas for wheat.

Excluding perishables, which tend to have volatile price movements, the core CPI rose 1.2 percent in March from a year ago. It reached 100.8 against a base of 100 in 2005, officials said Friday.

The rate exceeds February's 1 percent rise and is the largest increase since August 1993, except for the period when the consumption tax rate was hiked from 3 percent to 5 percent in April 1997.

Food product prices rose by 1.8 percent, accounting for a 0.40-percentage point increase in the CPI rise.

Higher wheat prices overseas led to the price of spaghetti rising by 26.6 percent year on year in March, following February's 13.2-percent increase. Cheese prices also increased by 22.6 percent, while bread prices rose by 10 percent. Energy-related prices, such as petroleum products and electricity, also rose by 9.5 percent, accounting for a 0.76 percentage point in the CPI hike.

Excluding food and energy products, the CPI rose by 0.1 percent, the first such increase since August 1998. A key factor behind that increase was the indirect effects of higher petroleum prices on air and taxi fares.

Prices of flat-screen TVs, computers and digital cameras all dropped by large margins.

The average core CPI for fiscal 2007 was 100.4, an increase of 0.3 percent over the preceding fiscal year, which was the largest hike since fiscal 1996.

A preliminary report for mid-April prices in Tokyo's 23 wards pegged the CPI at 100.7, an increase of 0.7 percent over April 2007.

While gasoline prices fell by 13.8 percent, due to the expiration of the special tax rate on March 31, prices of food and energy products rose, pushing the increase rate beyond March's 0.6 percent.(IHT/Asahi: April 26,2008)