Major Japanese appliance manufacturers have confirmed they will be continuing to hike prices for big ticket items such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and air conditioners.

Panasonic, Hitachi and Daikin are seeing business impacted by the surging costs of raw materials, according to Nikkei Asia. The copper and aluminum used for key components of white goods has surged in price, following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.

Panasonic has confirmed it will raise the prices on nearly 80 products from between 3 to 23 per cent, from August.

“If we cannot absorb the price increase [of materials], we have to raise the price of our shipments,” President Masahiro Shinada (below) said.

Hitachi has “gradually” increased prices of its refrigerators and washing machines since April.

“We can’t fully absorb rising material costs. It’s a hard choice,” said Yoshiko Ito, Hitachi’s executive managing director.

“We will gradually raise prices by 4 per cent to 5 per cent globally during this fiscal year ending in March 2023”, a Daikin executive told Nikkei.

Japan’s consumer price index for “household durable goods” rose 7.5 per cent in June, year-on-year. Air conditioners have climbed 11 per cent, with fridges costing 15 per cent more.