Japan's core consumer prices, minus fresh food, increased 1.0% year over year in February while the increase on a monthly basis was 0.1%, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed March 23.

Minus fresh food and energy items, prices rose 0.5% in February from the same period in 2017. On a monthly basis, prices were up slightly by 0.1%.

The consumer price index in February was up 1.5% year over year before seasonal adjustment, and up 0.1% from January on a seasonally adjusted basis.