| From The Newspaper (3) Prices |
October 7, 2022
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| "Consumer prices have increased by 2.8% ~ this is the highest rate for the first time in 31 years." The news article read that the General Affairs Ministry announced that the Consumer Prices Index for August was higher than last year's same month by 2.8%. A weak yen and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed it up. The prices of food rose by 4.1%, energy by 16.9% (electricity 21.5%, gas 26.4%), durable goods like air-conditioners and refrigerators by 6.3%, and recreational durables like tablet computers by 5.8%. The newspaper of September 21 featured some other similar news. "Autumn and winter clothing prices are rising one after another ~ after the rise of exporting costs and transportation costs." Uniqlo fleeces were raised in price from 1,990 yen to 2,990 yen. "The government allocated 3.5 trillion yen to pay to lower income households." They decided to pay 50,000 yen for each to families in need. "Food prices are sharply rising in autumn ~Companies are worried about consumers' restraining themselves from shopping." Teikoku Databank reported that more than 20,000 items are planned to be raised by the end of the year. 2,424 items this  September, 6,532 items in October, it was the largest. The article introduced the opinion of one consumer, "I was going to buy instant-ramen noodles and realized the price had risen. From now on, I have to buy things thinking whether it is indispensable or not." An owner of a local beer brewery said that they had to raise their products' prices because ingredients, such as hops' price, went up. The president of a seafood processing food company said, "Imported seafood prices rose by 50%, packaging prices rose by 20%." Teikoku Databank analyst said, "For companies, raising their products' prices might make their consumers leave, on the other hand, there is a risk that if they don't raise them up, their profits will decrease, and their business performance will go bad."A TV program featured this problem and a commentator said, "In this country, the average cost percentage of products is about 80%, this was because of this country's long term deflation. If a company raised the prices of their products, the customers would choose another company's products. As a result, only companies which didn't raise their products' prices remained. But, $1 was 115 yen in January, and now the Yen has weakened to 145 yen now, so they have to raise their prices, especially companies which depend on their materials being imported." The program introduced some restaurants which had endured in the time of COVID-19, but gave up under the rise of prices. He realized that prices have changed a lot from a couple of months ago. Now almost all of the food prices have been raised by 10% or so. He gave up eating beef because it was 200% as expensive as before. So he changed to pork and chicken. Sardines and mackerels have remained cheap, sauries and other fish have become rather expensive. So, he eats sardines and mackerels more often. He eats rice more often than before. Rice was one of the few foods which hasn't gone up in price. And, in addition, eating rice is good for this country's agriculture sector. Unfortunately, this country's food self-sufficiency rate has been decreasing year by year. Also, he has been drinking less than before, so it is good for his health. Besides cutting back on food, he uses as little water as possible when he washed the dishes. He uses as little toothpaste as possible when he brushes his teeth. He turns off the lights as much as possible. He drives his car as efficiently as possible for better gas mileage. Those things were economically friendly as well as good for the environment. On TV, the Prime Minister announced that the government decided that they would give subsidies to keep electricity prices low. Recently, he bought an air-circulator. Winter was coming and he had to get through this energy consuming season, eco-consciously as well price-consciously. |
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No.490
*durable goods :耐久消費財
*allocate :分配する
*restrain :控える
*indispensable :必要不可欠
*get through :切り抜ける
*sardine :鰯
*mackerel :鯖
*saury :サンマ
*self-sufficiently rate :自給率
*mileage :燃費
*consciously :関心を持って