Japan’s agriculture minister announced on Aug. 20 that the government will extend the deadline for selling rice from its emergency stockpile, as distribution delays left large volumes unsold with the original cutoff date approaching at the end of the month.
Of the roughly 280,000 tons of stockpiled rice offered under special contracts, about 100,000 tons have yet to be delivered. Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the extension was necessary because the rice has taken longer than expected to reach consumers.
The ministry had originally set a deadline to avoid depressing prices for the new harvest. But Koizumi argued that past sales of stockpiled rice had little impact on market prices and would not affect the cost of this year’s crop.
That crop is already commanding unusually high prices. In Fukui, the first shipments of Hanaechizen rice were sold at 1.7 times last year’s advance payment level to farmers. In Ishikawa and Tokyo, new rice hit supermarket shelves at 40 to 50 percent higher prices than in 2024, with some varieties surpassing ¥4,600 ($32) for a five-kilogram bag.
Store owners say the extension of cheaper government rice is unlikely to bring down new rice prices. “It all depends on yields,” said Yasuo Suzuki, who runs a rice shop in Tokyo. “If harvests are above average, prices could stabilize or dip slightly. But if they’re lower, today’s high prices may hold—or even rise.”
by MagazineKey4532