Japan, Asia's biggest wheat importer, may increase prices of the grain sold to domestic flour millers by as much as 30 percent from next April after costs surged, a government official said Wednesday.
The government will make a decision in February, based on its average buying price from June to January, said Hirotaka Mori, deputy manager of the grain trading division at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry. The gain would follow a 10 percent increase in October.
Rising wheat costs may rekindle inflation in Japan after a decade of falling prices and hurt earnings at companies such as Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. and Nippon Flour Mills Co.