By YUJI YAMASHITA/ Staff Writer
August 1, 2022 at 18:07 JST
The price for mayonnaise, seen here at a grocery store in Tokyo in April, is expected to go up. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Prices for 6,305 food products will go up in October following soaring raw material costs and the recent weakening of the yen, a survey by research company Teikoku Databank Ltd. showed.
“More companies are raising their product prices to offset rising costs as they become less reluctant to hike prices,” said a Teikoku Databank official.
The latest figure, compiled at the end of July, grew roughly 1.8 times from the previous survey in late June.
Teikoku Databank surveyed the 105 leading food manufacturers in Japan, asking how many food products they have raised the prices of so far this year and how many they plan to increase by year-end.
Although the sharp depreciation of the yen has stopped for now, the company found the prices of 2,848 more products will rise in October, compared to the previous survey.
They range from beer and soft drinks to coffee, soup stock seasonings and sauce for “yakiniku” barbecue. Mayonnaise and sausage prices will also be raised again within a short period of time.
More food items are subject to price hikes in October than the 2,431 products whose prices are to be raised in August and the 1,661 items in September, according to the latest survey.
Some manufacturers apparently decided to raise the prices from the latter half of this fiscal year, which started in April, after having put off the decision.
Many respondents cited the skyrocketing prices of wheat and sugar, as well as higher logistics costs due to rising crude oil prices, as the major reason for their price hikes, said the Teikoku Databank official.
The research company also found the prices of 18,532 food items will be raised by the end of this year, up more than 3,000 from the late-June survey. Their prices are expected to increase 14 percent, on average, or 1 percentage point higher than the previous survey.
Products subject to price hikes by the year's end will likely top 20,000 before September if the current pace continues, according to the Teikoku Databank official.
In addition to food items, prices will also be raised for meals served at restaurant chains, tires and construction materials from October.
Coupled with high gasoline prices and electricity bills, the expected price hikes this autumn will deal a heavy blow to household budgets.
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