(Adds detail, background) By Leika Kihara TOKYO, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Japan's wholesale prices rose 2.7% in the year to September, data showed on Friday, holding steady from the previous month in a sign of persistent cost pressure that will likely keep the central bank under pressure to raise still-low interest rates. The rise in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, exceeded market forecasts for a 2.5% increase. The yen-based import price index fell 0.8% year-on-year in September, a much slower pace than a 3.9% decline in August, the data showed. Food and beverage prices rose 4.7% in September from a year earlier after a 4.9% increase in August. Agricultural goods prices, which include the cost of rice, rose 30.5% in September, slowing from a 41% surge in August. The wholesale price data is among factors the BOJ scrutinises as a leading indicator of consumer inflation, which is the central bank's main gauge in setting monetary policy. The BOJ exited a decade-long, massive stimulus last year and raised interest rates to 0.5% in January on the view Japan was on the cusp of sustainably achieving its 2% inflation target. While consumer inflation has exceeded 2% for well over three years, Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the need to move cautiously in hiking rates further to ensure price rises are driven by solid domestic demand rather than raw material costs. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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