Industry minister Shoichi Nakagawa lashed out Tuesday at recent remarks by a prominent business leader questioning the government's demand that industries assist trucking firms that find it difficult to pass on high oil costs to customers.
Kakutaro Kitashiro, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), said Sept. 28 he it is not an issue for the state to comment on.
"In a market economy, prices are something that are decided between the seller and the purchaser," he said.
Nakagawa lashed out Tuesday, saying: "It's extremely regrettable. Such comments are hard to tolerate in times such as these."
At issue is whether firms that own the cargo should help reinforce the sagging profits of trucking firms by allowing them to pass on higher fuel prices via shipping fee hikes.
Late last month, Nakagawa and Kazuo Kitagawa, the minister of land, infrastructure and transport, asked cargo-owners to grant requests by trucking firms, many of them small and midsize, to raise the fees they charge on their corporate clients to pass on higher fuel prices.
In response to Kitashiro's criticism, Nakagawa said Tuesday, "There is a possibility that (the firms that own the cargo) are violating the Antimonopoly Law and the law for the promotion of small and midsize subcontracting companies" by refusing to let the truckers hike prices.