As Japan’s Economic Pie Grows, Christmas Cakes May Shrink
December 26, 2013 Leave a comment
December 25, 2013, 6:52 PM
As Japan’s Economic Pie Grows, Christmas Cakes May Shrink
The size of Japan’s economic pie may be expanding, but a beloved staple of the year-end holiday season — the Christmas cake — may get smaller for many people as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic program, or “Abenomics,” pushes up prices and weakens the yen. The “Super Christmas Tower” cake offered in 2012 by Patisserie Satsuki at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo.With few Christians, Japan attaches little religious significance to Christmas. But it does come with a powerful consumer drive, nurtured by decades of marketing. The fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken has been especially successful in selling its signature chicken as a staple for the Christmas dinner table. And many young couples rush to make restaurant reservations for Christmas Eve, having been persuaded this is a major moment for lovers.
But before any of this there was the Japanese version of the Christmas cake. Typically, it has been a strawberry shortcake with a sponge base and whip cream frosting — although consumers can now choose from a variety of cakes with Christmas decorations.
The original Christmas cake in Japan was fruit cake introduced by confectioner Fujiya Food Service Co. in the 1910. Fujiya’s strawberry shortcakes rose to popularity in the 1970s, becoming synonymous with Christmas itself. Every year, convenience and department stores mount major advertising campaigns months before the actual date.
But with the weak yen pushing up prices of ingredients like wheat, milk and sugar, it has created headaches for confectionary makers like Fujiya.
“We’ve maintained the prices of our Christmas cakes this year, but the rise in prices of lard and dairy products, as well as imported items like cocoa beans and nuts, is a difficult issue we need to deal with,” a Fujiya spokeswoman said.
The 100-year old confectioner sold 440,000 Christmas cakes last year, the most popular being a Y2,900 ($28) strawberry shortcake. This year’s line-up was decided in summer, before prices of ingredients rose significantly.
But in October, the government raised the selling price of imported wheat by 4.1%. In the same month, big dairy companies raised milk prices due to higher feed prices for cows. And in November, major sugar producer Mitsui Sugar Co. raised sugar prices by 2%.
With the price rises coming late in the year, they didn’t have much effect on this year’s cake prices. Tokyo-based patisserie Ecole Criollo, for instance, kept its Christmas cake prices unchanged.
“But maybe not anymore. We are considering raising the prices of our products from January,” an Ecole Criollo spokeswoman said.
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