Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency has received more than 1,000 complaints of suspected price-gouging since the consumption tax rate was raised from 5 percent to 8 percent on April 1, officials said Thursday.

“Many people complained about price hikes on goods closely related to their daily lives,” said an official from the agency’s Consumer Education and Information Division.

In October last year, the agency opened a special consultation desk related to the consumption tax increase.

Between April 1 and 25 this year, the desk received 1,482 inquiries, of which 1,147 were complaints about suspected unfair price hikes, the officials said.

But the number of complaints has been declining since mid-April, they said.

Many of the complaints were about price increases that exceed the tax hike. One consumer complained that the price of a cup of coffee rose to ¥220 from ¥200.

Others reported that stores changed their price indications to before-tax prices from tax-inclusive prices without adjusting the prices themselves.

Price increases that exceed the tax hike cannot necessarily be considered price-gouging if there are reasonable factors behind the price changes, such as rises in material and personnel costs, the officials said.

“So far, we have not found instances that require investigations or instructions,” one official said.