Japanese consumer spending on fresh fruit in 2012 was the lowest in the past 12 years, despite falling retail prices, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication's Statistics Bureau.
Average household spending fell to ¥31,288 in 2012, marking a 7 per cent drop in expenditure from 2011 and a 25 per cent decrease since 2001.
Meanwhile, average retail prices also hit a 12-year low of ¥371 per kg in 2012, down 12 per cent on their peak of ¥421 in 2007.
Household consumption on a volume-basis showed a nominal increase, rising to 84.29kg, from 83.11kg in 2011.
“Fresh fruit consumption in the Japanese household continues on a downward trend…this could related to a change in the diet of the Japanese,” said Junichi Moriya, president of Tokyo Seika Trading Co. “Disposable income now versus in years past could also be an underlying factor.”
Despite the overall downward trend, consumption and expenditure rates continued to rise for certain products.
Average household banana consumption for 2012 hit 21.27kg, the second highest volume for the last 12 years after the peak of 2009 (23.08kg), when Japan experienced the banana diet craze.
The average price of ¥203 per kg, the lowest in a decade, was seen as a major factor in the high banana consumption. Those low prices also reflected heavy supplies of Philippine bananas, caused in part by the near closure of the Chinese market to the South East Asian country’s fruit.
Consumer spending on kiwifruit also rose, with Japanese households buying an average ¥1,710-worth of the green and gold varieties, the highest since records for the fruit began eight years ago.
While noting that kiwifruit consumption was on an upward trend in Japan, Moriya warned that the bacterial vine disease Psa that has hit New Zealand production would impact supplies in the coming years.
“This will be a big factor in the availability, not withstanding the consumption trend of green kiwifruit versus gold kiwifruit among Japanese consumers,” he said.
Oranges enjoyed something of a resurgence in the Japanese market, with the average consumption rate of 2.31kg per household marking the highest in the past 12 years.
However, grapefruit consumption in Japan “continues to look bleak”, Moriya-warned. Household consumption fell to 2.09kg in 2012, the second lowest since 2006, a year when supplies were hit by the Florida freeze. Household expenditures on grapefruit were the lowest since the turn of the century, averaging ¥537.
