1 Month On, Iran Conflict Fuels Worries over Businesses, Households

Tokyo, March 28 (Jiji Press)--One month after the United States and Israel began attacking Iran, concerns are growing in Japan that soaring crude oil prices could lead to even higher food and other prices, putting additional strain on businesses and households.

Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil chokepoint, has driven up crude oil prices, hitting businesses such as farms, "sento" public bathhouses, and public transportation operators.

Dubbed the "blood of industry," crude oil is essential to many industry sectors. It is refined into gasoline, kerosene, gas oil and fuel oil, which serve as power and heat sources, as well as naphtha, a raw material for plastic products.

A senior member of a public bathhouses industry group in the western prefecture of Osaka voiced bewilderment over price hikes for fuel oil for boilers at such facilities.

"The figures are shocking," the official said. "I have never seen price increases like this." Fuel oil prices in the first half of April are expected to be around 40 pct higher than in the second half of March.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]