Japanese food and beverage companies plan to raise the prices of more than 4,600 items in October, bringing the number of items affected by price hikes this year to above 30,000.

Teikoku Databank has surveyed 195 major food and beverage companies. The results show that 4,634 items are being priced higher this month.

This brings the total number of price hikes to 31,887 items as of October this year. Last year, the total number of price hikes was 26,237 by the year-end.

The research firm says about 70 percent of the items priced higher this month are alcohol and soft drinks, partly due to the raised tax for beer-like products.

Processed food such as ham and sausage as well as confectionary products, including ice cream and chocolate, get higher prices in October.

But the number of this month's price hikes is about 40 percent less compared to a year ago, when prices on almost all the items were raised. In October, the figure of items priced higher dropped for the third consecutive month.

The research firm says this trend is expected to continue throughout this year as surges in the cost of raw materials subside and some manufacturers begin to lower prices of their food products.

The firm says that price increases will continue intermittently into next year as a weaker yen will likely keep the prices of imported foodstuff higher. The costs of packaging materials and logistics are also expected to remain higher.