Price increase and shortage of goods for more than a month until Christmas

It's been over a month until Christmas.

Attention has been focused on the whereabouts of the Christmas sales season in the Corona disaster, but this is due to a combination of various factors, such as price increases and shortages of goods.

Cake price increase

One of them is cake.

The pastry shop, which has stores in Ebisu and Nakano, Tokyo, started selling Christmas cakes from this month.

However, it is said that the purchase price of flour, sugar, chocolate, and strawberries required to make cakes continues to rise.

This is because distribution costs are rising due to the effects of high crude oil prices in addition to unseasonable weather in overseas production areas.

At the store, we are making efforts such as switching suppliers to other production areas with lower prices while maintaining quality, but it is difficult to absorb the increased cost, so we have to raise the price of Christmas cakes. bottom.

It is a whole cake in the price range of 3000 yen to 6000 yen per piece, and the price is about 100 yen to 200 yen higher than last year.

At this store, sales that have decreased by about 10% due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection have been gradually recovering recently, so it is said that sales in the Christmas season are worrisome.

Kenichi Kikuchi, the owner and chef of the pastry shop "Patisserie Les Aneforts," said, "I really need to raise the price a little more, but I want everyone to smile at Christmas, so I'm trying to reduce the price increase as soon as possible. I want the soaring prices of raw materials to subside. "

The impact of rising import costs is also on general stores

Stores that handle Christmas miscellaneous goods made in Europe and elsewhere are affected by rising import costs.

Every year, the general store in Ginza, Tokyo, has a special corner for Christmas miscellaneous goods at this time of year.

This year, due to the fact that the overseas production system was not fully prepared due to the corona damage and the increase in transportation costs due to high crude oil prices, overseas Christmas wreaths and wooden dolls of about 3000 to 4000 yen were sold. It means that you have to sell it at a high price of about 200 to 400 yen.

In addition, due to the shortage of ship containers due to the economic recovery from the Corona disaster and the concentration of products in the United States where demand is strong, purchasing is unstable due to delays in arrival and a series of shortages. The situation continues, and the number of products purchased this year is only about half of the average year.

It is said that the number of customers has been favorable so far because there is no prospect of importing additional products, but it is said that there is concern that a sufficient amount of products can be secured before the Christmas sales season, which is in full swing in the future.

Some visitors said, "It's a special time, so I want to buy something I like without worrying about the price." On the other hand, "I didn't think the price of Christmas products was rising." I did.

Joji Komatsu, the manager of the general store "Eincarem", said, "It is difficult to import new products from overseas for Christmas in terms of time and cost. We are also considering procuring products. "

Helium gas used for balloons is also difficult to obtain

It is becoming difficult to obtain helium gas, which is used for balloons for Christmas decorations, and we are concerned that it may be difficult for specialty stores to accept reservations.

Balloon specialty stores in Minato-ku, Tokyo sell on the Internet and decorate event venues, and Christmas is a time when orders are concentrated alongside Halloween.

Balloons can be lifted by using helium gas, but recently it has become difficult to obtain helium gas.

According to this store and importers and distributors, the supply from the United States, which is the production area, is unstable, the global distribution is disrupted, and there is a shortage of containers.

Since the price of helium gas purchased by the store has risen sharply to three times the price before, the store has raised the price of balloons using helium gas by 10% from the middle of this month.

Also, so far, we have only secured the amount up to the reservation amount by the middle of next month, and there is no prospect that it will be available after that.

We accept new reservations while calculating the remaining amount, but the number of product inquiries is increasing toward Christmas, and there is concern that we will have to decline acceptance in the future, so we will use air instead of helium gas. It is also considering replacing it with the "non-floating balloon" that was put in.

Hiroshi Nakajima, president of "ORYZAE", which runs a balloon specialty store, said, "It's a situation where Corona is a little calm and it's just about time to get together for the first time in a while. I'm thinking of making objects and making the venue lively. "