BNY strategist’s Katsu Curry Index suggests the yen is undervalued by about 61%

A senior strategist at Bank of New York Mellon has proposed a new purchasing-power gauge built around katsu curry prices, arguing it shows the Japanese yen is trading far below its implied value. According to Bloomberg-cited calculations by Geoff Yu, the so-called Katsu Curry Index puts a fair exchange rate at ¥62.18 per U.S. dollar, versus around ¥159.23 in Wednesday morning trading. That points to yen undervaluation of roughly 61%. The comparison is even more aggressive than the long-running Big Mac Index. Based on McDonald’s burger prices across countries, that measure implies a fair rate of ¥80.30 per dollar, which still signals deep yen weakness but not to the same extent. The discussion comes as the yen remains in focus after a joint U.S.-Japan intervention that pulled the currency off its weakest dollar level in more than 40 years. Bloomberg said about half of that intervention-driven rebound has since been erased. The report also notes that food-based PPP indicators can help illustrate cost-of-living gaps, but structural pricing differences mean they should not be treated as direct trading targets for foreign exchange markets.