NEWS: Panasonic Bathroom Products Increased by 6-12%

Recently, Panasonic announced that it would raise the prices of some bathroom and kitchen products in the Japanese market by 6-12% from August 1. Panasonic has raised the prices of some household appliances since April this year. This is the first time this year that the company has launched price raising measures for building materials products such as sanitary ware. It is reported that since 2022, more than 14 building materials enterprises in Japan have implemented price increases, including well-known enterprises such as LIXIL, Toto, Rinnai and housetec.

The price of overall bathroom and smart toilet increased by 6-12%

9% increase in overall kitchen price

 

Panasonic recently announced that affected by the rising price of raw materials, the company will increase the price of some bathroom and kitchen products in the Japanese market from August 1, covering a variety of bathroom and kitchen products.

The price increase products of bathroom category include integral bathroom, washstand and smart toilet. In terms of overall bathroom, the prices of L-class series, Oflora series, Refoms series and Mr-Bath series for house (Villa) increased by about 11%. In terms of washstand (bathroom cabinet), the prices of L-Class Lasys series, M-Line series and Aqua-furniture series increased by about 9%, and the prices of Utsukushi- Zu series and C-Line series also increased by 6-9%. The price increase of smart toilet products is mainly one-piece machines. Among them, the price of L150 series increases by 6-7%, S160 series increases by 9-10%, V series increases by 12%, and the price of toilet wash basin and other accessories also increases by 9%.

Panasonic Alauno-L150 series smart toilet

In addition, the price increase of kitchen products is mainly the integrated kitchen, in which the price increase of L-class series, Lacucina series, V Style series, MKV series and some kitchen accessories is about 9%.

It is understood that before raising the price of bathroom and kitchen products, Panasonic had previously announced an increase in the price of some household appliances, including a 5-30% increase in the price of lighting products and a 5-10% increase in the price of exhaust fans. At present, the price increase measures of some products have been implemented in the international market, and the Japanese market will also be implemented in the near future.

Panasonic lighting products have increased in price since April

Since this year, more than 14 Japanese building materials enterprises have raised prices,

Up to 60%

According to the statistics of Japanese media reconstruction industry news, since 2022, more than 14 building materials enterprises in Japan have started or are about to start price increases, including Panasonic, LIXIL, Toto, Takara standard, cleanup, housetec and other bathroom related enterprises. In addition to the enterprises outside the media statistics, there are more than 14 Japanese building materials enterprises that actually raise prices.

No.	Company	Products of Raising Price	Increase Range	Implementation date
1	Panasonic	Integrated bathroom, kitchen, Smart toilet, washstand, etc	6-12%	August 1, 2022
2	LIXI	Bathroom, kitchen, window frame and other 14 categories	2-39%	April 1, 2022
3	TOTO	6 categories, including ceramics, sanitary ware, and integral sanitary ware	2-20%	October 1, 2022
4	YKK AP	Wooden doors, window frames, building exterior walls, metal exterior decoration, etc	8-15%	January 1, 2022
5	Rinnai	Water heater, dishwasher, air conditioner, etc	5-10%	April 1, 2022
6	SankyoTateyama	Building exterior wall, etc	4-12%	February 1, 2022
7	DAIKEN	Floor, wallboard, door, anti vibration board, storage cabinet, shoe cabinet, etc	10-12%	April 21, 2022
8	Takara Standard	Integral kitchen, bathroom cabinet, range hood, etc	1-9%	April 2, 2022
9	Sangetsu	Wallboard, floor, curtain, chair materials, etc	18-24%	April 1, 2022
10	Cleanup	Integrated kitchen, integrated bathroom, etc	6%	July 4, 2022
11	EIDAI	Floors, indoor stairs, doors, storage cabinets, etc	5-10%	April 1, 2022
12	WOODTEC	Floors, indoor stairs, doors, storage cabinets, etc	5-15%	April 1, 2022
13	NORITZ	Water heater, etc	5-7%	July 1, 2022
14	Housetec	Integrated bathroom, kitchen, water heater, washstand, etc	2-13%	April 1, 2022

Many enterprises said that the reason for the price rise was the high crude oil price caused by the epidemic and the subsequent circulation block. The CEO of LIXIL, said, "buy high and sell low. The rising part (price) has to be passed on." It is reported that LIXIL has started raising prices twice this year. The first time is to raise the prices of some sanitary ware and building materials by 2-39% from April, and the second time will be implemented from July 1. At that time, the prices of building materials such as roof of house residence will be increased by 10-20%.

Toto also said that the prices of copper, resin and steel plates needed by the company's production soared. Among them, copper is the main material of faucet, resin can be used for integral bathroom wall, kitchen worktable, intelligent toilet, etc., and steel plate can be used for other building materials products. Affected by the price rise of raw materials, Toto announced to increase the product price by 2-20% as early as October 2021. However, Toto said that the price increase in Japan should be cautious. Some employees are worried that the price increase will affect sales, and the conclusion is that it is difficult to curb the rise of costs only by the company's efforts.

In addition to the well-known building materials enterprises listed by the Japanese media, there are countless local small and medium-sized enterprises that implement price increases. Taking sanitary ware enterprises as an example, Asahi sanitary ware has raised the product price by 1-15% since April 20; KVK, which is mainly engaged in leading hardware products, has increased its price by 2-60% since April 1, becoming the building materials enterprise with the largest price increase in the near future.

The maximum price increase of KVK faucet products is 60%

Japan's GDP fell 0.2% month on month in the first quarter,

Residential investment decreased by 1.1%

The rise in commodity prices, including building materials, has had an impact on the Japanese economy. According to Xinhua news agency, citing the preliminary statistical results released by the cabinet office on the 18th, Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.2% month on month in the first quarter of this year, with an annual rate of 1%. This is also the second decline of the Japanese economy after the third quarter of last year.

Data show that Japan's domestic demand was weak in the first quarter of this year, and personal consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan's economy, was flat month on month. In addition, enterprise equipment investment increased by 0.5% month on month, and residential investment decreased by 1.1% month on month. In terms of foreign trade, driven by overseas demand, Japan's exports increased by 1.1% month on month in the first quarter; Affected by the rise in import prices, imports increased by 3.4% month on month.

In terms of the contribution of domestic and foreign demand to Japan's economic growth, the contribution of domestic demand to economic growth in the first quarter was 0.2 percentage points, and the contribution of foreign demand was negative 0.4 percentage points.