Tokyo, Oct 8 - Japan's Suntory Ltd plans to raise prices of soft drinks sometime early next year to pass on rising costs of raw materials such as sugar and cardboard for cartons, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.
Such a move by privately owned Suntory may lead rival beverage companies, which have kept prices steady for fear of losing market share amid fierce competition, to follow suit. Major players in the industry include the soft drink units of Kirin Holdings Co Ltd and Asahi Breweries and bottled green tea drink maker Ito En Ltd .
Some of these firm have said it is hard to raise prices unless rivals, especially the industry-leading Coca-Cola group, do so first.