Tokyo: Prices for 6,442 food and beverage products were raised in Japan on Saturday, an unprecedented number for a single day, due to surging materials costs and a weak yen, credit research company Teikoku Databank Ltd. said.

Prices for restaurant menus, daily goods, household electronics and public utilities also rose, dealing a further blow to households already battered by inflation since last year.

In the whole of October, the prices of 6,699 food and beverage items are set to increase, according to Teikoku Databank’s survey of 105 major producers released Saturday.

“This is a scale unseen since the bursting of the bubble economy,” a Teikoku Databank official said.

Over 20,000 food and beverage products are expected to experience price increases during 2022, which would cost the average household 5,730 yen more per month, according to Teikoku Databank.

Four major brewers raised prices on Saturday, with a 350-milliliter can of Suntory Spirits Ltd.’s Premium Malt’s selling at around 275 yen, up by 17 yen from before.

Prices for quasi-beer and canned “chuhai” alcoholic beverages also increased.

Major soft drinks makers also increased prices. A 500-milliliter plastic bottle of Coca-Cola (Japan) Co.’s namesake drink is priced at around 173 yen, up by 22 yen.

The price of Kewpie Corp.’s 450-gram mayonnaise was raised for the third time since last year, from 436 yen to 475 yen. Sausages and coffee also faced additional price hikes.

In the restaurant industry, the eat-in price of a standard bowl of “gyudon” beef-on-rice meal at Yoshinoya Co. is set to change from 426 yen to 448 yen on Saturday.

Sushi restaurant chain Sushiro, a unit of Food & Life Companies Ltd., and rival Kura Sushi Inc. stopped offering sushi plates for 100 yen before tax at the end of September.

Other goods subject to price hikes include roughly 200 household paper goods from Oji Nepia Co., vacuum cleaners, telephones and batteries from Panasonic Corp. and Washlet toilet seats equipped with a warm-water spray from Toto Ltd.

Prices for tourist attractions were also raised. The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa Prefecture raised the entry fee for adults from 1,880 yen to 2,180 yen on Saturday due to higher feed and energy costs.

Tokyo Gas Co. is among the public utilities raising charges this month, with the fee for a standard household using 30 cubic meters of city gas per month jumping by 289 yen.

Employment insurance premiums will rise this month. A worker with a monthly salary of 300,000 yen will have to pay 600 yen more in premiums per month.

Fire insurance premiums were also raised.

JIJI Press