TOKYO (Reuters – The October increase in the prices Japanese companies charged each other to use their services was 1.0% higher than a year before. This is their eighth consecutive month with gains. This indicates that there has been an increase in inflation due global commodity prices.

According to Bank of Japan data, October’s services producer price index was 105.4, which is the highest level since November 2001.

However, the increase was much smaller than the 8.0% rise in wholesale inflation in October. This suggests that slow wage growth could moderate consumer price increases.

Transport fees were the main driver of October’s price hike in services. Due to strong global demand for raw material, shipping companies could pass higher fuel prices to their clients.

According to data, ocean freight transport costs increased 52.0% by October compared with a year ago. This was after an increase of 34.9% in September.

Hotel fees declined at 2.9% per month in October, down from 7.4% in September. This indicates that consumers were increasing their consumption after Sept. 30’s lifting of restrictions to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.

The prices of corporate services are slowly recovering, and some industries have seen a rise in demand due to lifting curbs. Shigeru Shimizu from the BOJ’s Price Statistics Division, said that the market hasn’t been affected by the pandemic.

Japan’s economy is slower than other advanced countries in recovering from pandemic depressions. It discourages companies from passing higher raw materials costs on to the consumers.

While core consumer prices increased by 0.1% in October compared to a year ago, fuel costs rose at an unprecedented pace for more than 10 years.