Japanese consumers hoping to reduce their dependence on petrol at the pump are getting a surprise as they feel the pinch elsewhere-when they sip orange juice, slurp noodles or bite into a sandwich.
As more people embrace ethanol and other biofuels as eco-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels in curbing global warming, the unintended consequence is a rise in food prices as demand puts pressure on agriculture.
While the most frequently voiced concern is that food will become more expensive in the developing world, the effects are already being felt in quiet ways in rich countries such as Japan, which relies on imports for most of its food needs.
The biofuel craze has been blamed for rises in the price of a range of foodstuffs in Japan, from fruit juice to mayonnaise, with one chain of restaurants serving up inexpensive curries hiking prices by some 12 percent this month.
"I had no idea why the price of the curry I just ate went up," said office worker Hidenori Kuboaki, 36, after finishing a pork curry-rice at a Coco Ichibanya outlet in Tokyo. The price of his lunch had suddenly risen to 450 yen (3.9 dollars) from 400 yen (3.5 dollars).
"Biofuel is one reason," said a spokesman for the restaurant chain, saying prices were rising for pork, beef and dairy products as the animals are fed grain that is also used to produce fuel.
The crunch has also hit small companies. Marufuku, a bakery in Tokyo's old Itabashi area, recently decided to hike the price of a loaf of bread by several yen (cents), as biofuel production pushes up the price of the raw materials.
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