KYODO NEWS 

Tokyo rice prices in October soared a record 62.3 percent from a year ago, government data showed Friday, as rising living costs have become a key issue in Japan’s general election being held this weekend.

The surge in prices in the Japanese staple food, the largest since comparable data became available in 1971, is driven by farmers passing rising labor and fertilizer costs on to consumers, already burdened by inflation largely due to the yen’s sharp depreciation.

Rice prices have been trending upward in recent months, particularly in urban areas, due in part to limited supply following last year’s heat and mounting demand from restaurants on the back of robust inbound tourism.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party late last month, has pledged to take economic measures to ease the negative impact of higher prices on households after the House of Representatives election.

Most of the political parties, including the LDP, have also said in their election campaign platforms that they will make efforts to urge private companies to raise employee salaries as the pace of price hikes has outstripped wage growth.

Japan’s real wages fell 0.6 percent in August from a year earlier, marking the first decline in three months, and the core consumer prices, excluding volatile fresh food, rose 2.4 percent in September, government data have shown.

The yen’s depreciation usually bolsters exports by making products of Japanese firms cheaper abroad and driving up the value of overseas revenue in yen terms, but it pushes up import costs. Japan is heavily dependent on imports to meet its food and energy needs.

With the consumer price figures in Japan’s capital serving as a bellwether for the national trend, analysts expect the costs to remain high, dispelling hopes that the arrival of new rice in the fall might lower prices.

Against a backdrop of the jumping rice price, food prices in Tokyo rose 3.8 percent in October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. Electricity costs and city gas prices climbed 4.0 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Chocolate prices rose 21.7 percent as confectionery makers revised upward their price tags in the reporting month in the face of surging raw material costs. Coffee beans and imported beef also gained 16.6 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively.

Core consumer prices in Tokyo rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier. But the pace decelerated for the second consecutive month, a year after electricity and city gas bills increased as the government slashed its subsidy programs for those items.

Published Date: October 25, 2024