Photo/Illutration Small auto parts makers, such as this one in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, have been hit hard by steep rises in the cost of raw materials. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japan’s corporate goods price index for April jumped a record 10 percent year on year as natural resource prices have climbed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, coupled with a serious shortfall in supplies of lumber products.

The CGPI index for April stood at 113.5, also a record, with 2015 used as a base year equal to 100, according to a report released on May 16 by the Bank of Japan.

The growth rate was the largest since 1981, when comparable data became available.

The April index represented the 14th consecutive month of increase from the same month a year earlier.

The CGPI gauges prices for goods that Japanese companies charge each other based on domestic wholesale prices, export wholesale prices and import wholesale prices.

More companies are expected to join others that have raised prices for their products and services in the coming months, given more than a year of the steady increase in the CGPI.

The consumer price index rose in March for the seventh straight month.

The CGPI April index was driven by a surge in prices of crude oil and other natural resources due to the war in Ukraine.

Prices of products made of oil or coal shot up around 30 percent. That was also the case with goods made of steel and non-iron metal, as well as electricity and gas rates. Lumber and related products saw a rise of more than 50 percent due to a crunch in supply chains.

A weakened Japanese yen against the dollar contributed to the surge in the CGPI.

The price index for imported goods posted a rise of 29.7 percent for dollar-denominated contracts, but the growth rate jumped to 44.6 percent when the value was converted to yen.

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