Price Hikes Decided On Over 20,000 Items In Japan

Above, Japanese consumers are paying more for food and beverage items. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Bird flu hasn't just hit the poultry industry, especially eggs, in the United States, it has hit Japan's food prices hard as well.

Kyodo News reported:

Price hikes have been decided for over 20,000 food and beverage items in Japan for this year so far, with the number crossing the threshold at a faster clip than last year, hitting a public already struggling with inflation, according to a credit research company.

A recent survey by Teikoku Databank Ltd. said that the price increases of products for household consumption are partly due to bird influenza that boosted egg prices and poor seaweed harvests.

The prices of 9,667 products had already risen through March. The figure for April stood at 5,116, while those for May and June reached about 820 and 3,300, respectively.

Mayonnaise and numerous other foods with eggs as key ingredients have become expensive. So have yogurt and cheese due to the rise in raw milk prices.

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