TOKYO, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan Post has announced that it will raise postage rates for letters and postcards in October, in a bid to improve profitability amid a decrease in postal itemszyngapokerfacebook.

Japan Post said that postage rates will increase to 110 yen (0.7 U.S. dollars) from 84 yen for standard-size letters weighing 25 grams or less and to 85 yen from 63 yen for postcards.

It marks the first postage increase since 1994 for letters, excluding adjustments related to consumption tax hikes. For postcards, it is the first price hike since 2017.

While mail deliveries have declined significantly since their peak in 2001, Japan Post, an arm of Japan Post Holdings Co., needs to secure funds to cover rising labor, fuel and other costs, it said in a press release earlier this week.

Japan Post's postal business, which is struggling due to falling demand, incurred an operating loss of 21.1 billion yen in fiscal 2022, the first such loss since the Japan Post group began its privatization process in 2007, local media reported.■