On April 28, a customer looked at the bread offerings, which have become more expensive due to soaring wheat prices, in Tokyo's Taito Ward. Research company Teikoku Databank Ltd. reported on June 30 that more than 15,000 food products will be subject to price hikes by the end of the year.
An official at the research company said it was probably unprecedented to see price hikes across such a wide range of food products.
The prices of the 15,257 items are expected to increase by about 13 percent on average.
The price hikes are not expected to ebb as the cost of imported raw materials continues to soar due to the weak yen.
The number of food items that will be raised is likely to exceed 20,000 by the end of the year, according to the company.
Teikoku Databank conducted a survey of the 105 leading food manufacturers in Japan. It asked how many food products they raised the prices on as of the end of June and how many they plan to increase during the rest of the year.
More than 4,000 products were added to the company's previous survey in early June.
Of the 15,257 food items in the most recent survey, 6,451 were already priced up from January to June. The prices for 1,588 items will go up in July.
More than 3,000 items are expected to be increased in October when the prices of more than 3,000 items are increased.
The prices of many products will be raised twice this year. These include bread, ham and canned foods.
Cooking oil will see its sixth price hike since April of last year.
Processed foods account for about 40 percent of the food products with prices that have been, or will be, increased. That is an increase of more than 2,000 items from the previous survey in early June.
Processed foods are the largest group to see a price hike because the prices of frozen foods and processed seafood products are going to go up.
The cost of their bottles, such as cans and PET bottles, is increasing as well as the cost of their drinks, such as beer, account for about 20 percent of the 3,585 items.
Price hikes for food products are accelerating as resource prices are surging and the yen is weakening, and mayonnaise and dressing account for 17 percent 2,627 items. Many firms are reviewing their prices on the assumption that the yen will remain weaker than 130 to the dollar.
Some firms may decide to raise prices in the future because they don't fully consider the current level of the yen.