Japan preparing to use rice reserves amid soaring prices

Maybe protecting the industry from imports so heavily isn't such a great idea? It is a staple crop, after all, so shortages of it can be devastating.

Open the market, LDP, for the benefit of consumers.

Sad the government has policies that hinder Japanese people from saving wages. Rice in Japan is 500 times more than the rest of Asia and being the staple food in the diet it has a heavy toll on the individual person. Government control only hurts the governed.

According to Asahi, rice prices are around 60 percent higher than they were a year ago.

And “some farmers are apparently holding off on selling their newly harvested grain in the hope that wholesale prices will rise even further.”

Farm minister Taku Eto told a Dec. 20 news conference that while the surge in price of newly harvested rice was somewhat extreme, “it would not be right for the government to intervene in the market price.”

If hoarding and price gouging are occurring, perhaps the government should intervene, particularly since the Japanese government subsidizes rice production to control the amount produced.

—

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15559987

We bought 30 kg of local rice for a lower price and were then given another 15 kg so that we would have enough for the rest of the year.

We bought 30 kg of local rice for a lower price and were then given another 15 kg so that we would have enough for the rest of the year.

Could other people, like me, also purchase that “local rice at a lower price” from an online source, or would the transaction need to take place in person?

Could other people, like me, also purchase that “local rice at a lower price” from an online source, or would the transaction need to take place in person?

My buy was person-to-person like others buying from a local farmer.

@wallace

So, you get free rice?

Amazing!

kurisupisu

@wallace

So, you get free rice?

Amazing!

Yes, a friend gave us 15 kg of new rice. They bought a 30 kg bag but was too much for them.

We have about 35 kg now.

You don't have kind friends?

I wish I had.

What can Govt do? Just get rid all import barrier. Any imported rice that you see in Japan, the price can be only 12-13 percent from the price that being actually written.

https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Japan-retained-a-778-tariff-on-their-imported-rice

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/06/10/business/rice-tariff-778-with-new-wto-formula/

Japanese consumers need to learn to boycott chains, brands, industries that price gouge and hoard.

Why are there massive price increases in everything recently? What is going on?

Maybe protecting the industry from imports so heavily isn't such a great idea? It is a staple crop, after all, so shortages of it can be devastating.

Maybe the clamour for immigration to solve Japan's ageing population issue isn't such a great idea when the country is at around 35% self-sufficient in terms of food production.

Sorry, don't want old rice. Been buying new Californian rice at Gyomu supermarket at 3,400 for 10Kg, when I can get it. Seems to be just a few bags allowed in here and there and they are sold out within hours.

And as others have said, the shortage is due to government ineptitude and short-sightedness. They just don't have our best interests in mind.

There is talk about opening the market to rice imports? What I hear (and this is Japan with Japanese people) is Japanese people don't really want foreign rice. To what extent can opening the market help? And with the really weak yen, would it make a big price difference with rice imports?

Farmers could grow higher-yield rice that is more resistant to climate change. Listen to a radio program the other day about farmers in India growing rice in seawater.

And as others have said, the shortage is due to government ineptitude and short-sightedness. They just don't have our best interests in mind.

The TPP was scrapped to protect farmers and small manufacturers who can't compete with the slave wages of foreign competitors. Putting the nation's farmers out of business is not a very long-sighted approach for a country that is currently 35% in terms of self-sufficiency in food production. Considering the fact that Japan is surrounded by hostile neighbors, it's shipping lanes could be cut off, in which case it would experience famine within weeks. I think all would agree, putting our existing farmers out of business would be short-sighted and inept.

The Japanese government pledged to import a certain amount of rice 2 decades ago. The Japanese imported lower quality rice likely on purpose and Japanese consumers got a bad first impression. Now these rice imports are mostly used for rice crackers, snacks, etc.

What Japanese consumers need is access to imported rice at different levels of quality/price then let the market decide what works in the Japanese market.

Ask pretty much any Japanese person and they will say they simply don't want imported rice other than for cheap snacks as mentioned above. But if things get out of hand with price/climate etc then that could change things

What Japanese consumers need is access to imported rice at different levels of quality/price then let the market decide what works in the Japanese market.

And if the market decides to put Japanese farmers out of business?

What will Japan do if and when it's shipping lanes get cut off in a geo-political conflict?

Do you suppose a geo-political conflict is unlikely? Take a look at a map, then a cursory glance at human history...then the map again...then at the geo-political landscape.

So, considering this...do you suppose it's a good ideat for the market to put Japanese farmers out of business?

Rice is the stable of Japan and other Asian countries and should be lower in price. The wholesale rice price is about ¥23,000 for 60 kg. The retail rice price is higher.

Rice is the stable of Japan

Rice is the *staple of Japan...and yes, wholesale is cheaper than retail. You've cracked the code!

Rice is the *staple of Japan...and yes, wholesale is cheaper than retail. You've cracked the code!

Retail prices can be 2-3 times the wholesale price. Last year's wholesale price was ¥16,000.

Only Kyoto-grown rice for me, at home and in restaurants.

Most restaurants buy commercial or industrial rice which is a mixture of rice from many prefectures including Fukushima.

The cure for high prices is high prices, not low prices. The surest way to guarantee that farmers are not incentivised to produce more rice this year is for the government to dump rice on the market, lowering the price, making growing the stuff unprofitable. Plant soy beans.

Wallace: Why add Fukushima. You already said many Prefectures. So why the discrimination of including FuKa separately .

Are you suggesting underhanded acts of scabery. Is there something wrong with FuKa rice ??? Taste very good to me in September.

Even if Japan lowers tariff barriers on rice and opens up the market, it will only result in a further decline in the number of rice farmers domestically as they lose out in price competition.

Is Japan happy to import all of its rice, its staple food, from overseas?

Why do we have to pursue such a completely useless policy?

The root cause is the LDP's rice production reduction policy.

And while America likely wants to replace Japan's staple food with bread and increase exports, it is also the LDP's mistake to have turned agriculture into an industry employed only by the elderly.

The country cannot be protected without protecting the fishing and agriculture industries. And forestry, for that matter.

LDP's mistake to have turned agriculture into an industry employed only by the elderly.

True. The average age of a farmer in Japan is 65!

The government needs to subsidize and incentivize farming in order for Japan to become more than the current 35% in terms of self-sufficiency in food production.

The country cannot be protected without protecting the fishing and agriculture industries. And forestry, for that matter.

Hear! Hear!

Another issue is that the average age of farmers is at around 70 now and many of them are moving away from growing rice due to it being more labour intensive and the lack of support from local communities that used to be more involved. And there is little hope that young people are sudently going to get into farming in any significant numbers. There is also a scale and efficiency problem.

The next time you are on a train across a plain in Japan, look outside the window and take note at the many small rice fields at the same altitude separated by a strip of grass. It is extremely unproductive.

Those fields (not terraces) should be combined into larger fields. Productivity in agriculture would shoot up.

The government can use tax policy to allow younger farmers to create larger fields; if farm land in sold within 12 months, the proceeds can be made exempt from inheritance tax.

Also note the outdated inefficient greenhouses. Those quonset hoop greenhouses are old technology not used commercially anywhere else. 21st century greenhouses are large rectangular structures. They are significantly more productive.

Japan preparing to use rice reserves amid soaring prices

We were told it was because all the tourists are gobbling it up.

John-San

Today 10:26 am JST

Wallace: Why add Fukushima. You already said many Prefectures. So why the discrimination of including FuKa separately .

Are you suggesting underhanded acts of scabery. Is there something wrong with FuKa rice ??? Taste very good to me in September.

Yeah there's nothing unusual about fukushima

John-San

Wallace: Why add Fukushima. 

Many people post they would not eat Fukushima rice when they probably are when using restaurants.

Gorramcowboy makes a good point. Food price rises were already at a one-year-high in December at 6.4%, almost twice the overall CPI

Rice production is down 3 million tons since 2013. 8.61 million tons. Now 7.27 million tons. In 1978 it was 11 million tons.

https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=jp&commodity=milled-rice&graph=production

Rice should be sold by the government for a non profit. It should also be free of sales tax.

I have a mate who grows his own...rice....and, clever fellow, made a thrasher himself using an old sowing machine foot driver and some circular timber with metal rods inserted.

Finished the product at a road side stall where he turned the brown rice into white.

I just get mine from a 7/11.

Rice...meh....I prefer mashed spuds and gravy

GeruMick

Where I live there are kiosks in the carpark of the food stores, and elsewhere so you can grind brown rice at 3-4 different settings to make various white rice. The charge is very low. Newly made white rice is more tasty than from the stores.

https://www.daiwa-seiko.jp/en/wp_daiwa-en/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/K-CR512%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89.jpg

@wallace

It means profits all along every supply chain ensure efficiency and provide an incentive to produce in line with demand and workers get paid for their labour.

Food is no different than widgets, everyone needs to work towards maximizing profits with minimal government intervention in the free market.

Farmers need to get paid and high prices provides a great incentive for them to grow more rice. It is a strong market signal that ensures supply is grown. Government intervention to artificially lower prices robs farmers of profits and discourages them from producing more rice.

Just like you, farmers expect to be paid for their labour.

Wallace...thanks for that...but I have never found rice to be "tasty "....unless with a curry or such.

I dont get the Japanese rice obsession at all.

proxy

you did not understand my comment "

Rice should be sold by the government for a non profit. "

Rice is the stable and most important food in the country.

The price should be the lowest possible. But I am not suggesting farmers should work for less.

The price of rice is high like many other items because there are too many "middlemen" between the farmer and the consumer. I am suggesting cutting out those middlemen so the price can be reduced.

Further reduced by no sales tax.

GeruMick

how is your raw fish (sushi) on top of potato?

I don't get the Japanese rice obsession at all.

Rice is the staple of most Asian countries.

@wallace

Government workers, i.e. middlemen, need to get paid too. It is unfair to tax beef producers to pay government workers to interfere in the free market rice trade.

Rice needs to be sold in the free market at a price discovered by buyers and sellers.

Government needs to get out of the market.

The closing of the Osaka Dojima rice futures 4 years ago has negatively impacted rice production. Reopen it so that farmers can lock in high prices months in advance and produce to fill their contracts.

Rice feeds the nation and needs to be at affordable prices for all, not the current high prices.

In August 2024, the price of a 60 kg bag of unpolished rice sold to wholesalers by JA reached a record ¥16,133. 

In September 2024, the average price of unpolished rice sold to wholesalers was ¥22,700 per 60 kg, the highest level in 31 years. 

The price of rice for household use has risen by 10–30% from the previous year.

proxy

The closing of the Osaka Dojima rice futures 4 years ago has negatively impacted rice production. Reopen it so that farmers can lock in high prices months in advance and produce to fill their contracts.

The yearly rice yields have been the same for 10 years.

https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/countrysummary/Default.aspx?id=JA&crop=Rice

What I hear (and this is Japan with Japanese people) is Japanese people don't really want foreign rice. To what extent can opening the market help? And with the really weak yen, would it make a big price difference with rice imports?

Me being Speed Racer, my family is Japanese and whenever they go to California, they always marvel at how the rice there tastes exactly the same as Japanese rice. But of course, at half the price or lower.

A 530% tariff on US rice is put up just for that reason because the quality and taste is competitive.

Why are there massive price increases in everything recently? What is going on?

A pal of my who farms rice said that the surrounding operating costs have skyrockets like the gas to fuel the harvesters and tractors. Also the drying mill (sorry I don't know the exact name) that dries out the rice quickly and evenly also requires a lot of gas and power thus driving up prices. Add to that transport. The gas in my area is now at 196 yen a liter.

Lucky those with connections to rice farmers (maybe even family members).

As for us Yen 4.000 for a bag of 5 kg rice is quite something.

In the States "Hinode rice" (same quality is that "purrrrfect" Japanese rice) is sold for $13 for 5 kg!

Rice comes in many forms and varieties.

The Japanese literally have no idea what’s out there in the wider world.

And…

No Fukushima products for me …zero

＠Taking Mr.proxyno's opinion into consideration

On the topic of fishing, there is a country in Northern Europe or somewhere where the government decides the minimum price for fish and trades it there.

Isn't it okay for the government to decide the minimum price for rice in Japan as well?

Young people don't go into agriculture because it's hard work and the income is low.

Mechanization to reduce the hard work costs money, but if the income is high, it may be possible to improve efficiency to a certain extent.

Before increasing the food production rate, we need to choose policies that will ensure that rice farmers do not disappear.

A more than 700% tariff on imported rice is ridiculous. At least get rid of the tarifss for other varieties of rice like Basmati and let the public decide. I'd choose Basmati anyday over the unhealthy, flavorless, high GI short grain grown in Japan.

how is your raw fish (sushi) 

Raw fish is called sashimi in Japan

Before increasing the food production rate, we need to choose policies that will ensure that rice farmers do not disappear.

.

They are disappearing!

Take a ride through Japan’s countryside and the number of vacant houses and fallow fields is very apparent.

リッチJ

Rice in Japan is 500 times more than the rest of Asia

500 times? Maybe I should get into rice smuggling. Can you give some concrete cost comparisons?

GeruMick

how is your raw fish (sushi) on top of potato?

Sushi is a rice dish. The raw fish variety is just one of many.

Abd fwiw, potato and pickled fish works great. My standard order in an Isakaya is fried potato and shimesaba.

I don’t eat Japanese rice often, usually I have basmati which is my most favourite, ain’t cheap here though mind.