Prices to rise in Japan on over 10,000 food items over higher costs

Food prices will continue to soar in Japan in the first four months this year, with prices on more than 10,000 items set to rise due to high material and logistic costs, according to a recent survey by a credit research company.

Prices of 12,054 items have climbed or are expected to do so this year. Prices would be 16 percent higher on average from the current level, up 3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to Teikoku Databank Ltd. data as of Jan. 31.

The pace of the increases will be about two times higher than the first four months of last year when 5,573 items became more expen...