High oil prices have been causing rises in not only fuel and material costs but also in one thing consumers are more familiar with -- sugar.
Sugar prices in Japan have soared more than 20 percent over the last three years because of higher demand for sugar cane to produce bio-ethanol, a gasoline alternative. This has cut the supply of sugar cane available for sugar production, which could push prices even higher.
"Sugar has become a speculative commodity," said Shizuo Shoji, head of the crude sugar division at trading house Mitsui & Co. "Sugar's image that it's cheap and can be easily obtained whenever we want is vanishing."