Japan Rice Prices: Updated Nov. 18, 2025

Japan retail rice price hits record high since gov't release eased

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251115/p2g/00m/0bu/013000c

Ideas

It seems, maybe globally too, that once prices begin to increase related to some product or commodity, all those involved increase their prices, as they may feel or think, if that store is increasing its prices I should increase my prices too.

Rice in Japan is a stable and a very important food product and it never should have been like this as the government should have taken every precaution to ensure there wasn't a shortage in the summer of 2024.

There must be something in the agricultural network in Japan that is keeping prices high and or allowing rice prices to continue to increase even though the Japanese government released its reserves to help lower the price.

This could be a situation of market power by some in the agricultural network, where some or many control the market and are keeping prices higher than what they should be to enhance their own interests.

There is no proof of some using market power to control the market but it seems strange that prices have continued to remain high for over a year in Japan, despite the government attempts to flood the market with reserve rice to lower prices. The Japanese government has also increased the supply of foreign rice too to try and lower the price.

Of course the 6,000 supermarkets are in business to make a profit but at the same time they know that their customers are experiencing the continued increase of rice and some of them have to be concerned for their customers and what they are going through too.

Once again, if one or many supermarkets are increasing prices then other supermarkets are going to do the same to make sure they get their share of the profits. But some might think I will try to keep my prices down for the good of my customers despite the fact I might be losing some profits here.

It has been suggested in other articles that despite a good harvest some in the rice network are keeping prices high to ensure they can keep their profits high too.

The problem with markets, sometimes, is there has or need to be cooperation by all in order for the market the run smoothly and or ensure there fairness for all involve in the market, as rice producers, wholesalers, sellers such as supermarkets and of course the final retail customer.

If any of those involve the market try to take advantage of the market, including the final retail customer, the market can potentially can get out of its normal market mechanism, as prices can become distorted.

For example if the final retail customer or customers feel their is going to be a shortage of rice they might begin to horde rice supplies and cause market disarray, and the same with any of the actor in a market.

There is always a time lag between what the distributors and wholesalers do and how long it takes to get to the supermarkets and the final retail customer.

And then there is the situation again where the supermarkets, for a specific period of time, will keep the price high to ensure they can maintain there profit margin, due to any number of factors such as increases in whatever costs they might have.

Lets say there was a poor harvest in 2024, and the market actors didn't know if was going to happen as it did. Not to criticize, but shouldn't the agricultural leaders have known about this long before the harvest of the 2024 rice period.

And maybe the rice reserves that the government had at its disposal should have been released much earlier to keep rice prices as normal as possible in the market.

At the same time too the foreign rice supply should have been increased sooner than it was allowed, to increase the rice supply in the market as a way to keep prices down.

Once again, rice is a food staple in Japan which means its a very important product which never should have happened as those involved in the rice market should have all cooperated to ensure the rice supplies were normal and rice prices were normal as many Japanese families and households were stressed out because of some kind of market failure.

Have a nice day!