Services Producer Price Index up 3.7% year on year in September; transportation and postal services up 8.4%Prices of services traded between companies rose 3.7% in a year
On October 27, 2026 (Reiwa 8), the Bank of Japan released the preliminary Services Producer Price Index for September 2026. The all-items average stood at 115.5 (2020 average = 100), up 3.7% from a year earlier and 0.3% from the previous month. The pace widened from 3.5% in August. Transportation and postal services, which include ocean freight, rose 8.4%; excluding international transportation the average rose 2.9%. The figures are useful for logistics and outsourcing budgets and price negotiations.
Key points
- September preliminary figures (2020 average = 100): all-items average 115.5, up 3.7% year on year and 0.3% month on month. August (revised) was 115.2, up 3.5% year on year
- Excluding international transportation, the average was 114.4, up 2.9% year on year and 0.2% month on month. Removing the five international transportation items cuts the pace by almost one percentage point
- Year-on-year change by major group: transportation and postal services up 8.4% (index 121.8), real estate up 2.2% (111.3), finance and insurance up 1.5% (107.5)
- Items with the largest gains year on year: ocean freight transportation up 97.7% (index 315.9), leasing up 17.1%, accommodation services up 9.7%, domestic air passenger transportation up 7.9%, road freight transportation up 4.6%, office rents up 3.0%
- Items that fell year on year: television and radio advertising down 11.7%, and internet, newspaper, magazine and other advertising down 1.0%
What to do in practice
- When a subcontractor or carrier asks for a price increase, check the year-on-year change for the matching item and use it as a basis for discussion
- Decide how much of the rise in freight rates, lease payments and office rents to build into next year's budget
- Advertising prices are falling for some items, so track unit prices separately by medium
Carrying goods, storing them, renting an office, running an advertisement. Companies buy many such services from other companies. The Bank of Japan turns those prices into a single number, and on October 27 it published the figure for September. It was 3.7% higher than the same month a year earlier.
Points
- The September figure was 115.5. Taking the 2020 average as 100, it was 3.7% higher than a year earlier and 0.3% higher than the previous month
- The biggest rise was in moving goods, up 8.4% in a year. Ocean freight rates roughly doubled
- Some prices fell instead: television and radio advertising was down 11.7% in a year
What the words mean
- Services Producer Price Index
- A number summarizing how prices of services traded between companies move
- Year-on-year change
- How many percent something changed compared with the same month a year earlier
- Transportation
- The work of carrying goods or people by truck, ship or aircraft
- Bank of Japan: Bank of Japan, Services Producer Price Index (releases)
- Bank of Japan: Bank of Japan, Services Producer Price Index (preliminary, September 2026)
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