Nissan prices on the rise in Japan.

Japanese automotive giant Nissan will be passing rising costs on to its customers. Bloomberg reports that Nissan Motor Co will raise domestic prices on its forklifts by 4.8% to 6.5% to pass on higher costs for steel and other raw materials.

The news service quotes a Nissan statement indicating that the new prices come into effect this week.

Prices for an engine-based forklift will rise to JPY2.53 million (USD24,000) from JPY2.39 million.

Analysts point out that Japan is an unusual market in that price increases are not formally announced in other regions. The Nissan hike is seen as catch-up in the wake of a similar increase in June by Nichiyu, a recently announced 6% increase from TCM on the back of its 3% January increase, a 5% rise by Komatsu in June and Toyota's 6.5% increase in May.

Market watchers say global currency fluctuations mean the increases may not be passed on to other markets "at this stage", but warn that rises are inevitable.

Nissan, which started forklift production in 1957, has production facilities in Japan, USA and Spain and produces around 30,000 units per year.