Japan Rice Prices: Updated June 9, 2025.

Over half of rice producing firms in Japan feel store rice prices 'too high'

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250607/p2g/00m/0na/029000c

Ideas

There might be something not right in the supply chain related to rice as Japan is known with a having multiples of layers in the supply chain which can increase the price for each chain member it goes to.

The price might start low with the rice producers but by the time it goes to the supermarket it might be very high even much higher than the rice producer price.

Yes, rice is a staple in Japan and is used it and with many different Japanese food dishes, but as anyone knows, if the price of a product begins to get too high consumers will cutback and or find substitutes.

There is always the possibility of Japanese consumers changing to foreign rice which is usually cheaper as it is not as popular and not in high demand which of course might mean a lower price product.

There is always the chance or possibility that some of the rice producers have formed some kind of cartel to keep the price high as they fear there might be another rice shortage like last summer.

The Japanese government needs to put price controls on the rice at supermarkets as a way to keep the prices down for the good of Japanese households.

And then, as needed, temporarily give subsidies to the supermarkets to make up for any losses that they might feel.

This strategy maybe should have been implemented from the very beginning, as again, the Japanese supply chains are structured in a way that the price goes up every time it goes through the supply chain system, as there are multiple layers in the supply chain.

The wholesalers and other middlemen in the Japanese rice market system only have themselves to blame as they are only looking out for themselves and not thinking about the good of Japanese society or Japanese households.

The head of the association of course is mainly only thinking about his association members and not really about all involved in the process and especially not about the low-income groups that might be the largest buyer of the rice.

And yes, the middlemen and wholesalers need to make a profit too, but again, there are just too many in the middlemen system which causes the price to be unnaturally too high.

It's important also to know what is the income level of those in the survey? If the respondents are from a high income group of course they might not think the price is too high or even consider the price appropriate but if they are from a low income group then of course they are going to think the price of rice is too high.

Maybe the Japanese middlemen system or wholesale system has worked efficiently for many years, but when the system has some hiccups likes last summer maybe its time to modify the system for the good of Japanese society and Japanese households, and the Japanese economy.

Of course the farm lobbying group is going to say its not too high, as again, he might be thinking only about his lobby group and not for the good of Japanese society or Japanese households.

That's the problem and challenge of a market system as sometimes different parts of a market system only think about their piece of the pie and don't see the big picture or everyone who is involved in the market.

And yes, to be fair, farm companies have the right to worry about the high price of purchasing facilities and machines for farming, and yes, its difficult to see the big picture when they only see their costs continuing to increase.

And yes, when the supply of a product is over-produced the price of a product can be much lower than when there is a shortage of a product.

So its quite possible some farmers might hold back how much they produced to look like there is a shortage to ensure that the price remains high, which what might have actually happened last summer in Japan. 

And yes, again, if the price of a product gets too high its only natural that some consumers are going to think twice about buying that product and or try to find substitutes for the product at a lower price.

And again, foreign rice might be a good substitute for the high priced Japanese rice as foreign price is not as popular or in high demand which means the price might be much lower.

Have a nice day!

Japan Rice Supply Chains: Updated June 15, 2025.

Soaring rice prices in Japan spotlight rigid supply chain structure

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250606/p2g/00m/0bu/011000c

Ideas

There must be a reason for the mult-layered supply chain as you would think a more simple supply chain of grower, processor, middleman, and the store would be enough.

Of course that is why maybe prices on some products are very high in Japan because of the complicated supply chains.

Everyone in the supply chains seems to want their cut or their gauranteed profit which all in the supply chain increase the price when it gets to them.

There might be many more in the supply chain that that listed in the article such as many more wholesalers where the products gets passed around from wholesaler to wholesaler before it reaches the supermarkets.

And even the Japan Agricultural Cooperative might move the products around from location to location before it even reaches the wholesalers too, as they might have arrangemtns that need to be taken care of in the cooperative.

The adding on of transporation fees and profits margins is nothing new around the world but in Japan its seems to take on a completely different meaning, as Japan's supply chains seem to be much more complicated and long compared to other countries.

Ultamtately its the final consumer the Japanes household that might suffer with the higher prices, but at the same time, the long/complicated supply chains might provide for many more jobs in Japan.

There are always going gto be positives and negatives in any system or supply chain and offering advanced payments to farmers to help with cover living and operational costs might be a good thing.

But then the negative might be later prices for products in the system might be higher because of the advanced payments, so there are positives and negativs to the supply chain system in Japan.

Yes, the Japan supply chain system might have some rigid parts to it, but until August of 2024 it seemed to be somewhat stable and good for Japan, or at least it seemed that way.

And yes, the market system in Japan might be too rigid not allowing for enough freedom of movement related to the supply and demand of products and especially fruits and vegetables.

So maybe the rice shortage of the summer of 2024 might turnout to be a good situation as it exposed the weaknesss of Japan's rice distribution system and how it not really based on supply and demand but more based on the cooperatives system of payments.

Can we call the summer of 2024 a market failure situation where rice, a staple for Japanese households, became a scarce resource.

That alone should be considered a major emergency but it took the Japanese government until early 2025 to release the rice reserves when they should have been released during the summer of 2024.

It appears the JA is/was acting like a cartel and controlling the price of rice instead of letting the market decide what the price should be.

And when the JA purchased the prices at high prices then then moved the rice products throught the Japan rice supply system and when it arrive at the supermarkets the price was already much higher than expected.

And again the JA was able to get 296,00 tons of the auction rice, or about 95 percent of the reserves which means kind of strange as again, it is/was acting like a cartel and not letting rice buyers get any of the reserves.

And in that way, again, the were able to control the rice market and drive the prices much higher than what the market prices should have been.

Supplying stockpiles through direct contacts is both a positive and negative but it definitely was better than the previous system which seeme to be like a cartel controlling the rice market.

Direct contacts might sound good but it cuts out the middleman which is not good too as they need to make a living. A better approach might be the reduce the overall middle group and just keep the essential middle group as a way to keep the price down as much as possible.

In this case, market invention might be needed, as again, the JA appeared to be a cartel that controlled the rice market and had no real intention of lowering rice prices for the good of Japanese society or Japanese households.

Market invervention is often needed with there is market failure or some group has too much market power, which seems to be the case with the JA and rice prices.

There needs to be as many retailers as possible selling the reserve rice and not just be for a few limited retailers and again that might look like a cartel type situation doing exactly the same thing as the JA was doing.

As some earlier articles have suggested, some farmers and even the JA might be holding back the rice that is actually out there wating for even higher prices to hit the market .

There should never have been a rice problem in Japan as rice is a major staple and should always be made available like eggs, milk, bread and maybe some kind of meat.

Even if Japan has to import more foreign rice and make sure the foreign rice is a little cheaper in order to get Japanese consumers to buy it and begin to like it and then there might be a continuous flow of rice into the supermarket at reasonable prices for Japanese households.

Have a nice day!

Japanese Rice Prices: Updated May 2, 2025.

Rice prices in Japan up for 16th straight week, hit new high despite gov't reserve release.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250429/p2a/00m/0bu/004000c

Ideas:

Something or someone is causing major challenges for the Japanese rice market as maybe someone is exerting too much market power which is disrupting the normal mechanisms of supply and demand, and keeping prices unnaturally high.

There usually is only three or four players in the market, such as the growers of the rice, the polishers or those that improve the rice for the market, the wholesalers, which could be more than one in the supply chain, and then the supermarkets, and then the final customer.

So take away the final customer as they have no control over the price, so someone in the supply chain might be exerting too much market power which is causing prices to be higher than usual.

The Japanese government, for the good of society and Japanese families, should put a limit on how high prices can increase to reduce the stress and burden on society. Even if they have to give supplements to wholesalers and or growers they need to do something as the stress is falling too much on Japanese households related to rice prices.

An increase in releasing rice reserves into the market should help with reduced prices but only if all those involved are on the same page but it looks like someone only cares about their profits and not about what is good for society.

So someone in the supply chain might say, to survive I have to keep the price high or I will not stay in business. But that is entirely not true and if it is there are other actors in the market causing prices to remain high too.

Yes it does take some time for the rice to reach the supermarkets and the final customer, but the problem might be supermarkets might still be keeping the price high as they know that maybe the reserve rice is a limited supply.

Unless wholesalers and supermarkets know that the rice supply will be constant and unlimited they might continue to keep prices high to maximize profits and they might be worried the supply could do down again.

So there is a negative mindset running through the Japanese rice market now and it going to take some time to change and just adding the released Japanese government rice into the market is not going to change the mindset of wholesalers or supermarkets and they need to know and see that supplies are back to some kind of normalcy.

Yes, it looks like wholesalers are looking out for each other and or at least the large wholesalers as maybe the smaller wholesalers are having challenges with getting some shipments.

Major wholesalers might be helping other large wholesalers at the expense of the smaller regional wholesalers which then is hurting some local stores in regional areas.

And this is where market power, if not checked or limited, can disrupt the entire supply chain and some lose out such as regional stores and regional wholesalers.

And yes, it looks like some wholesalers are helping other wholesalers at the expense of small to medium-sized supermarkets, kind of like large companies helping other large companies at the expense of small and mid-sized companies.

And again, until the rice market gets back to some kind of normalcy these kind of market actions are going to continues and unfortunately, some small wholesalers and some small supermarkets are going to be hurt in the process.

And yes, some wholesalers might be holding onto their inventories and not moving them through the supply chain as needed for the good of society.

Demand for rice might have exceeded government estimates but that should have been reason enough to release even more government rice into the market, instead of just releasing a little at a time.

This has become a major challenge for Japanese households as maybe they should think about buying foreign rice, which might be much lower in price due to demand for the product.

Have a nice day!

Japan Households and Rice: Updated March 28, 2025.

Amount of rice bought by Japan households up despite soaring prices

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250323/p2g/00m/0na/002000c

Ideas:

As usual, even globally, anytime there is a fear of a shortage consumers/households will try to horde as much as they can. This was very common during the pandemic with things like tissue and or course face masks. 

It happened during the summer of 2024 when the Japanese government issued a potential earthquake warning and Japanese citizens rushed to the supermarkets to horde their favorite items or needed items out of fear, and rice was one of the biggest items that was horded.

Rice is an important food staple in Asia, and especially in Japan rice is almost a cultural product and its market is highly protected against foreign rice and there is significant tariffs on foreign rice imported into Japan.

It had been suggested that the younger generations were actually eating less rice that previous generations preferring to eat western style food over rice meals, but it might be a small and less significant idea at this time.

It can't be said that rice in Japan is cheap or inexpensive as it seems that the domestic rice market is heavily protected and because there is less competition based on price, domestic rice suppliers in Japan can charge as much as the market can bear in Japan, which of course might put a heavy burden on Japanese households and having to buy domestic rice, as again because of tariffs on foreign rice it costs too much, for the most part, to buy foreign rice so Japanese households are left with high-priced domestic rice.

To be fair, no one is forcing Japanese households to buy the expensive domestic rice, but maybe if given a choice, based on price, some might begin to buy foreign rice if it was much cheaper.

But like anywhere in the world, globally, consumers have preferences and maybe some or many feel Japanese domestic rice is superior to foreign rice and or they are used to eating Japanese domestic rice and don't want to try foreign rice or risk buying it.

In some countries, for some people, it might like consumer nationalism, meaning buy only Japanese products, but the world, for the most part, has changed and most countries have products, including food products, from countries everywhere these days.

In the summer of 2024 there was of course either a rice shortage due to not so good growing seasons, along with bad weather and some suggest bugs that affect rice crops might have been a problem.

And then there might have been a lag in response by the Japanese government and or are lack of communication in releasing the Japanese government rice reserves into the Japanese rice market as a way to stabilize rice prices.

You would think, based on basic supply and demand principles that once the rice market was flooded with the Japanese government rice reserves, then the prices of rice in Japan would begin to decrease, but that hasn't happened as maybe whomever is still keeping prices high in the market as a way to gain more profits.

And yes, as mentioned earlier, consumers worry about buying what they need and they begin to panic and begin to horde products such as rice in the summer of 2024.

In articles from the summer of 2024, it had been said that supermarkets had to impost limits on the number of bags Japanese consumers could buy such as one bag per customer, but that doesn't really prevent customers from returning later in the day and buying another bag of rice.

Sometimes consumers/customers are not logical, as they act out of fear for what they need and don't think about other consumers or citizens as there have always been articles and stories of consumers arguing over Christmas gifts, and maybe even during the pandemic arguing or fighting over face masks and or any other products that might have been short supply.

Most likely Japanese households/consumers were still worried about a rice shortage or the potential of another rice shortage as the reason for purchases exceeded the previous year's levels.

At the same time, even though new rice entered the market which should have reduce the price, prices didn't decrease most likely due to suppliers worrying about supplies so they kept the prices high on rice just in case.

Finally, maybe in December the worry about the supply among began to decrease so Japanese consumes might have stopped trying to horde rice at super markets.

The idea of an alternative staple might be because in the mindsets of many people once they find a food they like and enjoy or even need, they don't think there is any other foods that can satisfy them.

For example, in South Korea, many South Korean tourists feel they have to eat kimchee everyday and they bring it on vacation trips as they think they need to eat it daily. 

Of course the same maybe can be said about any other ethnic group and the foods they feel they need or want such as some Americans and McDonalds.

It might have been a good strategy to release Japanese government stockpiles, but other article have suggested the new supply of rice didn't bring down the price as it was reported some suppliers were actually holding back their rice supplies hoping the rice would go up.

This might have been completely avoided if the government had either released government supplies earlier and or put price controls on rice in the market to help Japanese households and especially those in the lower middle income, and low income, and fixed income groups in Japan.

Have a nice day!

Japan Govt. Reserve Rice: Updated April 2, 2025

1st batch of Japan gov't reserve rice handed to buyer in bid to combat spiking prices

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250319/p2a/00m/0bu/016000c

Ideas:

Not to be critical or negative but it seems that March 2025 is a little late and as maybe August or September of 2024 might have been a better time to release the national reserve rice as many Japanese households were struggling back then to find rice in the supermarkets.

When the reserve rice does hit the market are the vendors and or supermarkets going to keep the prices high or are they going to lower the price back to the price of before the rice shortage started.

Usually anytime the supply of product increases the price should go down, but maybe not just yet, as again vendors and supermarkets need to see even more of a supply increase before the prices begin to get back to some kind of normalcy.

As rice is usually sold or bought in auctions by vendors and then eventually to the supermarkets it would be interesting to see just what the auction price was or is, was it higher or lower than normal due to a short supply of the product.

Most likely, it will take some time for the price of rice to go down ans vendors and or supermarkets want to maximize their profits as long as they can and when supermarkets see other supermarkets lowering the price then most likely all supermarkets will begin to lower the price of rice in the market.

But the price also is going to be determined by what the Japanese government next, such as are they going to release more rice reserves to make sure the supply is good and prices can then get back to normal or some kind of new normalcy.

I'm not sure why Japanese official doesn't want the rice to be released to be labeled as reserve rice and maybe some might think its inferior rice or maybe its been sitting around too long and not good quality rice now.

Of course Japanese consumers can be very picky and maybe if they see reserve on the rice again they might think is been sitting too long and or inferior than regular rice.

But if most of the reserve rice goes to the restaurants and not the supermarkets who is really going to know what kind of rice is it regular rice or reserve rice.

It looks like rice prices are not going to go down that much anytime soon as the rice sold in supermarkets is still twice what it was last year. 

Rice vendors of course are going to think about their business and themselves first and many businesses do, but for the good of Japanese society and Japanese households vendors and supermarkets should think about the common good and not just about just making the most profits they can or even trying to take advantage of the situation and try to increase the rice price as much as as they can.

But that's easier said than done as vendors and Japanese supermarkets have to make a profit if they want to stay in business, but they can try to reduce the price some to help Japanese households and Japanese families as much as they can.

The Japanese government needs to continue to release it reserves so that the market can get back to some kind of normalcy and try to basically food the market with rice to ensure the supply of rice is adequate.

But then the challenge is for vendors and supermarkets to respond in kind as they see the supply getting back to some kind of normal or at least a new normal, and not continue to keep the price high for too long a time.

Then there is the idea of foreign rice in the Japanese rice market, which might have gotten more traction or more demand because the price of foreign rice is lower than the price of domestic Japanese rice.

But it might take more time for foreign rice to really become very popular, in japan even globally, it takes consumers time adjust tastes or their like of a product and this is no different as maybe, because of the price, some Japanese customers have become accustomed to the taste of foreign rice, while others in Japan might need more time.

Have a nice day!