Food inflation becoming harder for BoJ to ignore

Costly staple: A worker showing rice being sold in Tokyo. The government said it will release its stockpile of rice reserved for emergency use in response to soaring prices. — AFP

Tokyo: Food inflation in Japan is a hot topic for households managing monthly budgets – and increasingly for the central bank as well, as prices for staples including rice and cabbage soar.

The issue will gain fresh traction with today’s release of consumer inflation data forecast to show overall price gains picking up to 4% in January from 3.6% in December, according to consensus.