TOKYO -- Japan could be in for a second wave of surging food prices as the continuing Middle East turmoil drives up prices for naphtha-derived container feedstocks and freight rates for crude oil tankers.

Retail price hikes became notable this summer as crude prices rose due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Prices were raised on 4,965 food and beverage items in September, more than triple the number recorded a year earlier, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank covering 195 major food companies.

It generally takes about six months for higher crude oil prices to be passed on to end consumers. In the food sector, rising oil prices are reflected relatively quickly in the prices of petrochemicals like polyethylene and polypropylene. Those higher costs are then gradually passed through to processed products including plastic containers and packaging films.

Upstream business-to-business prices for chemicals rose 19% in March and April following a sharp jump in crude oil prices, according to Nikkei data. The increases were subsequently passed down through container and packaging manufacturers and wholesalers, eventually reaching consumers. Roughly six months later, in September, food and beverage price boosts at retail outlets reached their peak.

The number of food and beverage products subject to price increases in October fell to 3,153, roughly in line with the previous year, and is projected to decline further to 1,469 items in November, as the momentum of price hikes peaks for now.

"The pass-through of previous cost increases has largely run its course," said Daisuke Iijima of Teikoku Databank, who conducted the survey. The start of Japan's new fiscal year in April is traditionally a favorable time for companies to revise prices. The question now is what lies ahead.

Chemical prices were relatively stable from May through July, but resumed an upward trend from August. Concerns over crude oil procurement intensified after Iran-backed Houthi rebels declared a blockade on Saudi vessels on July 20 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which had served as an alternative route for Middle Eastern crude alongside the Strait of Hormuz.

Freight rates are shooting up even faster. Difficulties navigating the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have lengthened voyages for Middle Eastern crude, tightening supply and demand for oil tankers. Efforts to secure shipping capacity have intensified, driving up tanker rates sharply.

Freight rates for Middle Eastern crude shipments to East Asia, a key benchmark, are now nearly six times higher than before the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and have reached a record high.

"We are not in a situation where vessels cannot be secured," said an official at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Still, logistics costs are rising and are likely to add upward pressure to petrochemical prices.

Taking into account current market conditions and the time lag before costs reach consumers, a second wave of food price increases could arrive after the New Year. April, the start of Japan's new fiscal year, is traditionally a favorable time for companies to revise prices, raising the possibility that food manufacturers will announce a fresh round of hikes.

That timing would coincide with the launch of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's planned consumption tax cut on food products. A new wave of price revisions could erase the benefits of her flagship inflation-relief policy.