Earlier in the day, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said that the government will hold a meeting to discuss high energy prices and their pressure on the country's supply system, the first meeting on the matter in five years.
The Bank of Japan said that wholesale prices in the country in April increased by 10% year-on-year, the highest rise since 1981, as costs of energy and raw materials continued to grow amid the Ukraine crisis and the fall of national currency yen.
Oil and coal prices increased by 30.9%; prices of metals, including iron and steel, rose by 29.9%; lumber and wood products prices recorded an increase of 56.4%, while nonferrous metals rose in price by 25%.