Sales at supermarkets during the month were down 4% from a year ago, while food sales also eased by 4% (the Japan Chain Stores Association).Japanese Wagyu and domestic beef remained in good demand, assisted by increased discount offers, resulting in limited sales of other livestock products.
In the foodservice sector, October sales were 2.1% lower than last year, as key categories such as the fast food and family restaurant could not match last year’s performance.
Yet, gyudon (beef rice bowl) operators managed to improve spend per customer, while yakiniku (Japanese/Korean style barbecue) lifted both sales and expenditure.
Consumer price index (CPI) in the Tokyo metropolitan area during October fell 0.8% year-on-year, with food items being the main contributor to the deflationary outcome.
