September 11, 2007

Japan's Itoham Foods to hike prices by ten percent  

Itoham Foods Inc. intends to lift the prices of ham, sausage and other processed food items by an average 10 percent from October 20 to help offset higher materials costs, marking the second straight year of increases, The Nikkei reported in its Tuesday morning edition.

Japan's second-largest processed meat company aims to raise prices by around 7 to 15 percent. It will simply mark up some items, while others will sell for the same price but in smaller portions.

Commercial and consumer ham, sausages and other processed items will be subject to the price hikes. Although the number of items and other details are yet to be decided, likely targets include a popular sausage, frozen pizza brand La Pizza, and char-grilled hamburger patties.

Itoham ramped up prices as recently as July of last year due to lofty pork and crude oil prices. This latest increase is a bid to absorb rising costs, triggered by the high price of corn, which is an ingredient in pig feed. Corn prices have surged due to ballooning demand for its use in biofuel.