Heavy rainfall in Japan has driven up summer vegetable prices in wholesale markets, and is expected to spill over to retail pricing.
Prices have been rising for the past fortnight, reported Kyodo News, with prices for 5kg of green onions averaging ¥2,037 and 10kg of Japanese radishes averaging ¥1,050 over the week 9-15 July, a rise of 20 per cent on the previous week.
Lettuce prices have also jumped around 70 per cent to ¥1,008 for 10kg in the past fortnight.
Record rainfall in the Kansai and Kyushu regions have cut into the yields of summer produce like okra, bitter gourd (goya), pumpkins and watermelons.
The prices of okra and bitter gourd have risen 40-60 per cent and around 50 per cent respectively, according to the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives’ business arm for Miyazaki Prefecture.
“The continued rains are causing flowers to fall and produce few berries,” a JAC official told Kyodo News.
