Japan Wholesale Prices:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210210/p2g/00m/0na/056000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's wholesale prices dropped 1.6 percent in January from a year earlier due largely to lower crude oil prices and electricity bills, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday.

The prices of goods traded between companies fell for the 11th straight month amid the prolonged impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Prices for oil and coal products tumbled 14.7 percent with a slow recovery in crude oil prices amid the pandemic, while electricity, gas and water bills dropped 11.9 percent, reflecting lower energy costs last summer.

Ideas:

Higher or lower wholesale prices sometimes might be an indicator or higher or lower prices overall for consumers.

As sometimes, most likely with higher wholesale prices, companies will "pass on" the higher prices they have to pay and charge retail consumers higher prices to cover their costs.

Except of energy, rarely do wholesalers pass on the lower prices they have to pay to consumes as they want maintain a certain to consumers and maintain a certain profit margin.

Prices or goods traded between companies can be seen as less business between companies do due the pandemic as maybe intermediate products were not as needed to to pandemic.

Article:

"The U.S and Chinese economies have been picking up recently, but we still see the impact of the pandemic continuing to put pressure on overall prices in Japan," a BOJ official said.

Nonferrous metal product prices rose 12.6 percent as demand for aluminum and copper grew following a recovery in the Chinese economy.

Prices for scrap and waste surged 42.7 percent as overseas demand for steel products increased amid improvement in global auto sales.

Ideas:

As global demand continues to improve Japanese companies might see a surge in demand for the types of products they produce.

Which can have a further synergy affect. As demand for products of some companies begin to improve it will affect the demand of products they need to make the products. So what happens to one company can affect many companies such as suppliers to companies.

Just as no country or economy is isolated in today's global economy as most economies are very interconnected the same can be said for many companies in an economy as many companies are very much interconnected with each and especially in Japan.

Article:

Meanwhile, agricultural, forestry and fishery product prices slipped 1.5 percent as restaurants and bars cut operating hours at night in 11 prefectures where the government declared a state of emergency in the reporting month due to a resurgence of virus infections.

Import prices fell 8.2 percent and export prices decreased 1.0 percent, both in yen terms.

Ideas:

As just mentioned many sectors and companies in an economy are interconnected and what happens in one area can have a large affect on other sectors or industries in an economy.

As restaurants and other places were forced or told to close earlier meant less sales, less profits and then for their suppliers less demand for the products they produce.

And again another negative synergy affect as what happens with one sector/industry in an economy can have a large affect on other sectors or industries within an economy.

In terms of imports prices, how much of the decrease was related to lower oil prices that Japan imports for use in the economy?

Have a nice day and be safe!