Producer prices in Japan were up 9.1 percent on year in May, the Bank of Japan said on Friday.
That was shy of expectations for an increase of 9.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month after a downward revision from 10.0 percent.
On a monthly basis, producer prices were unchanged - again missing forecasts for an increase of 0.5 percent and down from the upwardly revised 1.3 percent increase in April (originally 1.2 percent).
Export prices were flat on month and up 6.2 percent on year, the bank said, while import price jumped 1.3 percent on month and 26.3 percent on year.
