Society

Price hikes to hit Japanese consumers in April

Mar 28 (Japan Times) - A raft of price hikes for food and daily necessities will hit consumers in Japan at the start of April.

Prices of various products will increase because a wide range of commodity prices are soaring, including wheat and soybean prices.

Effective Friday, when Japan goes into a new fiscal and academic year, the price of home-use edible oil will rise by Y40 or more per kilogram at Nisshin Oillio Group Ltd..

Kagome Co. will raise tomato ketchup prices by up to around 9%, while Otsuka Foods Co. will hike the price of Bon Curry Gold products by ¥10 to Y190 per pack before tax.

Suntory Spirits Ltd.’s Yamazaki 12-year-old whisky will be priced at ¥10,000 per 700-milliliter bottle, up 18%.

Yaokin Corp. will raise the price of its staple Umaibo stick-shaped corn puffs for the first time since their launch in 1979. The product will sell for Y12 per stick, up from Y10.

Bread and noodle prices have already gone up. Their prices are likely to increase further because the government will boost the prices of imported wheat it sells to the private sector by about 17%. ...continue reading

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