A recently completed survey has confirmed supermarkets in Japan are recording a big uptick in sales as customers stock up in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The National Supermarket Association of Japan issued the preliminary results of its February “Supermarket Statistical Survey” on 23 March, with information from 270 responding companies around Japan.
Sales of seafood were up over same-store-sales in February of last year by 4.1 percent. Fresh produce rose the least of any food category at just 1.1 percent, while processed foods rose the most, at 8.8 percent. Food sales rose in all areas of the country, but the greatest gain was 7.6 percent in the Kanto area, in which Tokyo lies. The increase in February sales contrasts with trend in January, when sales across most product categories declined by one or two percentage points.
The spike in sales of processed foods in particular is likely due to people stockpiling in case of an emergency, similar to the lead-up the landfall of Typhoon Faxai in September 2019. The typhoon knocked out electrical power in many areas for several days, and a second typhoon, Typhoon Hagibis, was predicted to do the same the following month. During that period of fear, supermarkets sold 9 percent more food than average. This February, with people nervous about a possible lockdown to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, sales rose by a similar rate – just shy of 9 percent over the baseline.
Using average sales from 2012 through the present as a baseline, seafood sales were lower than the baseline (by as much as 6 points) from 2012 through mid-2013. With the exception of a few months, sales were above the baseline until early 2016. Since then, they have fluctuated in the range of a point over to about 6 points down, until spiking in February.
While seafood sales at supermarkets are up, at least in the short-term, an 18 March Nikkei report found that COVID-19 has hit luxury items hard. Scallop prices have fallen 40 to 50 percent from the same time last year, as export demand from China and Europe has dried up. Sea bream and bluefin tuna, which are popular for banquets and celebrations, such as for school graduations and company-entering ceremonies that normally take place in March, have fallen in price by 20 and 30 percent, respectively. And lower domestic demand for yellowtail has seen the price fall by 10 percent from the same time last year.
And Japan has not yet instituted the draconian lockdowns currently being enforced around the globe in response to the coronavirus. Last week, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike for the first time asked people in that prefecture to stay home on the weekend due to a sudden increase in cases there, but the measure is voluntary.
In response to the coronavirus crisis, Japan’s supermarket association announced on 27 March the establishment of a portal site for store operators that aggregates government information related to the coronavirus.
Some of the many changes made by the government in response to the pandemic include: shareholder meetings are now permitted to be postponed or held online; foreign technical trainees in Japan who cannot return to Japan, or who cannot attend training to move to the next level can receive a visa extension; tax deferrals for affected businesses are available; workers taking leave due to their children’s school closures can receive government grants; and food-labeling standards will be treated flexibly to allow substituting other-origin foods for those whose packaging notes China origin, due to shortage of food imports from China.
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