Price hikes for food and beverages in Japan will hit 1,078 products in June, driven by higher costs from the West Asia crisis, says Teikoku Databank.
TOKYO: Price hikes in Japan for food and beverage items in June will total 1,078 products, up from 84 in May, amid moves to pass on higher costs stemming from the West Asia crisis to consumers, a research institute said on Friday, Kyodo News reported.
Teikoku Databank Ltd. now expects the number of such products to surpass 10,000 for the full year.
“We expect a broad wave of price hikes to continue in summer onwards,” an official at the institute said.
As of the end of May, 22.7% of the items were affected by the Iran war that began with the U.S.-Israeli strikes in February, which has led to a supply crunch of naphtha, according to a report by the institute.
The oil-derived raw ingredient is used to make chemicals for manufacturing a wide range of products, such as plastic packaging for food items.
By category, seasonings, including spices, accounted for the largest proportion at 450, followed by 304 processed foods, such as instant noodles, for June.
The annual total, including items facing price hikes through October, already stands at 9,361. If the figure exceeds 10,000 this year, it will be the fifth consecutive year to do so since 2022, when the institute started taking records.
