Japanese consumers hoping to reduce their dependence on gasoline at the pump are getting a surprise as they feel the pinch elsewhere -- when they sip orange juice, slurp noodles or bite into a sandwich.
As more people embrace ethanol and other biofuels as eco-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels in curbing global warming, the unintended consequence is a rise in food prices as demand puts pressure on agriculture.
While the most frequently voiced concern is that food will become more expensive in the developing world, the effects are already being felt in quiet ways in rich countries such as Japan, which relies on imports for most of its food needs.
PHOTO: AFP
The biofuel craze has been blamed for rises in the price of a range of foodstuffs in Japan, from fruit juice to mayonnaise, with one chain of restaurants serving up inexpensive curries hiking prices by some 12 percent this month.
"I had no idea why the price of the curry I just ate went up," said office worker Hidenori Kuboaki, 36, after finishing a pork curry-rice at a Coco Ichibanya outlet in Tokyo.
The price of his lunch had suddenly risen to ?450 (US$3.90) from ?400.
"Biofuel is one reason," said a spokesman for the restaurant chain, saying prices were rising for pork, beef and dairy products as the animals are fed grain that is also used to produce fuel.
THE CRUNCH
The crunch has also hit small companies. Marufuku, a bakery in Tokyo's old Itabashi area, recently decided to hike the price of a loaf of bread by several yen, as biofuel production pushes up the price of the raw materials.
"The rise in price is all related to the cost of ingredients for bread. We're barely able to make a profit," bakery manager Norikazu Abe said with a troubled look on his face.
Wheat prices for December delivery reached an all-time closing high of US$7.84 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade for the week ended Sept. 1, up from US$7.42 the week before.
PRICE HIKES
Japan is particularly vulnerable to rises in commodity prices, as the country's self-sufficiency in food has slipped below 40 percent for the first time in more than a decade, the government said last month.
The proportion of Japan's food produced at home came to 39 percent in the year to March, falling below 40 percent for the first time in 13 years, according to official data.
Japan imports about 5 million tonnes of wheat annually, more than 80 percent of its domestic demand, according to the farm ministry.
The price changes at consumer level are more subtle, but they are affecting a growing number of food products.
Nissin Food Products, the inventor of instant ramen, said Sept. 5 it was increasing the price of its iconic Cup Noodles for the first time in nearly two decades due to rising costs of wheat and other crops.
"The price hike was inevitable, as the government-set price of imported wheat is to rise by 10 percent in October," following a 1.3 percent rise in April, said Nissin spokesman Masayuki Yasutake.
The government announced the price hike last month, saying "world prices of grains are rising significantly, due to increasing demand for biofuels" along with demand caused by economic growth of emerging countries.
Kirin Tropicana, the Japanese sales agent of US beverage giant PepsiCo Inc.'s Tropicana products, in May raised prices of its 100 percent fruit juices by between 10 and 18 percent.
"Global prices of citrus are rising, partly because of crop rotation from oranges to sugar cane which is used for making bioethanol, leading to a plunge in supply," said Naoko Murakami, spokeswoman for Kirin Tropicana.
The area that was planted with oranges in key citrus producer Brazil has been declining in recent years despite solid demand, according to the Japan Fruit Juice Association.
"Because sugar cane is easier to grow and the prices are surging, reflecting demand for biofuel, farmers in Brazil are encouraged to change crops to sugar cane," said Sanosuke Tsuchiya, a board member of the association.
The harvested area of oranges in Brazil in the year from July last year fell to 722,600 hectares from 740,600 hectares the previous year, he said, even as demand for oranges continued to rise.
Other companies that have raised prices include Kewpie Co, Japan's top mayonnaise maker, and Nisshin Oillio, which hiked prices for rapeseed and soybean oil by about 10 percent in July.
FARMERS
"The rising global demand for corn to produce biofuels is one factor that has pushed up prices of soybeans, as farmers changed their crops from soybeans to corn that led to the shortage of soybeans," said Akira Ogawa, vice president of the Tokyo office of the American Soybean Association.
The Japan Oilseeds Processors Association (JOPA) added that prices of Canadian rapeseed were rising because the demand for rapeseed oil itself is rising.
"The rise in price of rapeseed reflects that Canadian oil manufacturing firms are actively reinforcing their oil refining capacity, targeting the market for biofuels," Yoshinori Komura, a JOPA official said.
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