Consumers pay same price for instant ramen, but get 10 percent less noodles

As wheat and butter prices rise, producers of various food products are choosing to reduce the quantity of food in their packages instead of raising prices:

These cost-cutting changes, often made as a result of what companies call “quality improvements,” are to hold off lower sales due to higher prices, industry sources say.

“What we on the sales side are afraid of most is to cause consumers to withhold purchases,” said a food company sales representative.

“Cutting volume or changing ingredients would not give them a sense of higher costs. We are also making efforts to improve customer satisfaction, so it’s not cheating.”

Nevertheless, companies do not actively publicize these modifications, even though they make announcements when raising prices outright.

Examples include:

• Some instant ramen brands now have 10% less noodles.
• Nissui’s Iki-chikuwa fish-pase rolls are now weigh 25 grams instead of 30 grams.
• Kibun Foods Inc. has cut the number of gobo maki burdoch in its fish rolls from six to five.
• Umai Bou baked corn snacks are now weigh 6 grams instead of 8 grams.
• “An Butter” bread is now made with margarine instead of butter, renaming the product “An Margarine.”
• Some supermarkets and bakeries are now selling rice bread and cakes.