Typhoons that have hit Hokkaido and the Tohoku and Kanto regions of Japan have damaged vegetables harvest and caused slow crop growth, which has subsequently led to higher produce prices and shortfalls in vegetable supplies at supermarkets and other retailers. Restaurant chains are also struggling to procure vegetables. This situation has led to an increase in sales of precut vegetables, the prices of which have remained relatively stable.
On Wednesday at the Akidai supermarket chain's Sekimachi store in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, a package of two large-size carrots from Hokkaido was on sale at 138 yen (about $1.33) before tax. A large-size lettuce from Nagano Prefecture had a price tag of 298 yen before tax. These prices are twice those in normal years.
The prices of potatoes, cabbage and komatsuna Japanese spinach have also been rising due to supply shortages.
It is hard for retailers to reflect the jump in wholesale prices in retail prices as consumers continue to economize. Hiromichi Akiba, president of Akidai, lamented, "I have never sold at such a large loss."
According to a survey on the retail prices of five staple vegetables, the results of which were released by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry on Wednesday, the national average price of lettuce per kilogram between Oct. 10 and Oct. 12 stood at 1,426 yen, up 34 percent from a week earlier. This was 2.6 times as expensive as in average years and the highest since 2010, when the current survey method was introduced. Cucumbers were also about 29 percent more expensive than in average years.
The slow growth of vegetable crops was conspicuous in major vegetable-producing regions, including Nagano and Ibaraki prefectures. A wholesale market official anticipated that the price of lettuce and cucumbers would remain at high levels through November. The price of cabbage, often used as a lettuce substitute, is also rising because of a lettuce shortage.
A supermarket chain operating mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area expanded the sales floor space allocated to precut vegetables, the prices of which are relatively stable and sales of which are soaring.
"We received 10 percent more orders than in average years," said a spokesperson for a company in Gunma Prefecture that produces and sells precut vegetables. The company also reduced the portion of vegetables normally discarded, as procurement prices are 20 percent to 30 percent higher than in average years.
Subway Japan Inc. said some of its Subway fast food sandwich restaurants began mixing cabbage into their sandwiches and salads from Oct. 10.
"We are experiencing lettuce shortages in domestic and overseas markets and there is no prospect for its stable procurement," said a Subway public relations official.
