Rice Sales in Japan. Updated July 7, 2026.

Sales of rice from 2025 harvest to Japan wholesalers hit record low

Ideas

The Japanese rice market, ever since the summer of 2024 challenge, might have shifted the logistics of how rice gets to the final retail customer over the past two years.

It's quite possible rice farmers in Japan have been by-passing the normal  channels and now are using less known cooperatives as a way to make a little more profit from their rice harvests.

The shift or change might not be related to how wholesalers do business but maybe related to what supermarkets want and need now as consumers/customers are demanding a lower price for rice, the main staple in Japan.

Its quite possible conventional stockpiles and conventional wholesalers have kept the price or rice higher now for a little too long and supermarkets and consumers are looking for cheaper less expensive rice as imported rice, which is always a little cheaper.

Whether private-sector rice inventories or government controlled rice inventories consumers and supermarkets are looking for ways to reduce costs and are always looking for the least expensive product on the market, or maybe for supermarkets the most profitable products on the market.

It has been suggested that maybe ever since the summer of 2024 rice market challenge that the rice supply chains were experiencing some kind of a cartel situation where maybe the price of rice was being kept at a higher price as way to benefit a few in the market.

Retail rice prices might be declining but they are probably still too high for many consumers in Japan and especially the lower-income groups which have to spend more of their disposable income on food products than the upper-income groups who probably don't even notice the high prices for rice.

Wholesalers, like all businesses, have profit margins and they need to keep prices at a certain level as long as they can, and they probably are not going to reduce inventories just to discount rice which would not be in their favor and reduce their profit margins.

Rice in Japan is a major staple like milk, eggs, and bread in many other countries and if needed, the Japanese government, for the good of society, should maybe use price controls from time to time to ensure everyone in society has the ability to buy rice as needed.

Of course the challenge with price controls or limiting the increase in the price of rice doesn't benefit maybe the rice wholesalers, the supermarkets, and maybe the rice farmers too, so most likely there are just too many challenges for the Japanese economy to use price controls from time to time.

As always there seems to be competing interests in the rice market supply chain as there seems to be private-sector rice cooperatives and public government controlled rice cooperatives and maybe hundred if not thousands of small rice networks that are all competing in the market for what might be considered a limited amount of profit for everyone involved.

The challenge is, like many supply chains in Japan and in South Korea too, there are are just too many links and too many hoops to jump through before the rice reaches the supermarkets and the final retail customer, which increases the price of the rice at each stop before it reaches the final retail customer.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260701/p2g/00m/0bu/006000c

Japan May Core Consumer Prices: Updated June 21, 2025.

Japan's core consumer prices in May rise 3.7% on surging rice costs

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250620/p2g/00m/0bu/009000c

Ideas

Japan is a resource poor country, which means they have to import much of what the need including gas, oil, and anything needed to make things including some food products.

And then if you add in the weak Japanese yen, that makes imports prices even higher which means Japanese households have to pay even more.

Rice is separate problem as there seems to be something amiss  with rice supply chain in Japan maybe some of the suppliers might be acting like they are a cartel and trying to control the rice prices.

Most central banks would like to keep inflation around the 2 percent level and they feel its a manageable level and its a good gauge of how an economy is operating.

Too high and an economy might be overheating and too low an economy is not operating efficiently.

The Japanese government, years ago, should have put some price controls on key factors that affect everyday Japanese households and a way to relieve the stress on Japanese families.

Something is amiss again with the Japanese economy has maybe other economies have begun to see inflation decreasing but not in Japan for some reason.

There is the possibility that maybe there are problems with some Japan supply chains that are either acting like cartels or the fact that the Japanese supply chains are too multilayered which means each time a product moves from one middleman to another middleman the price goes up on the product and when it goes to the final customer the price has increased a lot.

There might not be a rice shortage if the Japanese government released all of its reserve rice and actually shipped it to supermarkets and not though the normal supply chains channels with increases the price too much.

But then there is the problem of the media supposedly saying the reserve rice doesn't taste as good as the name-brand rice that many Japanese consumers like.

it's possible that the medial suggesting that the reserve rice is/was not as good as the name-brand rice might be the result of traditional rice producers aiding the media to make such comments as a way to get Japanese consumers to keep buying the traditional rice despite the price being very high.

There is also the problem of maybe shipping costs. globally have increased a lot since the pandemic as shipping companies too lost a lot of revenue and also the fact that oil and gas prices have increased a lot for shipping companies.

Then there is the idea that agricultural products are subject to good growing seasons and not so good growing seasons,which might be the reason for the decreases in cabbage prices and also part of the problem for the high rice prices.

Good growing seasons might result in lower prices and not so good growing seasons might result in higher prices.

Rice is supposed to be a main staple in the Japanese diet so what has happened where the main food staple in Japan has seen prices increase so much, as maybe someone or some group is/are acting in their own self interests and not in the interest of Japanese society.

Why has it taken almost a year for the Japanese government to figure out how to solve this problem as the problem originated about a year ago.

Again, if rice in Japan is such an important food staple why has the Japanese government allowed the situation to last as long as it has.

There is the idea of maybe price controls to help Japanese families could have been used a long time ago as a way to lower the price of rice and any other important food staple such as eggs, bread, noodles and some meat not to mention needed fruits and vegetables.

Most likely the high energy prices that climbed 8.1 percent might have been too much for Japanese families and they had to cut back on something such as not buying durable goods such as air conditioners.

All of these prices increases on many products means that some or many Japanese households have less disposable income to use in the Japanese economy which then means less consumer spending to help increase the Japanese economy grow.

The service sector which usually doesn't mean the selling of tangible products but intangible products or services, so they usually don't pass-on their costs to the customer but they do pass on their wage increases to the final customers as service sector companies usually have very thin profit margins and need to maintain those profit margins to stay in business.

Have a nice day!

Japan Rice Prices: Updated May 15, 2025.

Japan rice prices fall for 1st time in 18 weeks amid gov't measures

   Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250512/p2g/00m/0bu/045000c

Ideas

Most likely, there was enough government pressure on those suppliers holding supplies of   rice in check that they finally gave in and lowered the price for the good of society.

And or the ideas of supply and demand finally kicked in as the increase supply of rice in the market was able to begin to see rice prices beginning to decrease.

But whatever the reason was it was good for Japanese households, but is it enough to help all who need rice for their families and homes.

A decrease of 19 yen per 5 kg doesn't sound like much but for some Japanese households it might be a significant decrease. 

Again, maybe some suppliers who have been holding rice stocks in reserve to see if they could get the highest prices possible. and maybe they felt it was time to release the price as they finally got the prices they wanted all a long.

Yes, that is true as rice prices are probably still too high for most Japanese families or maybe the high prices might motivate families to look for foreign rice if they can find it which might be much cheaper.

But then again, as rice is such an important table for Japanese households some might not think twice about the price and buy it anyway as is.

The National Federations needs to ensure that the rice gets to the markets that need it and not play favorites with some supermarkets or other suppliers.

Unfortunately there are always those who pretend to have more market power than others and might find ways to get preferential treatment related to the supply of rice for their favorite supermarkets or other suppliers.

These same reasons keep coming up since last July and maybe they can't find any new reasons for the rice shortage or the high rice prices.

Surely inbound tourism is not the only reason for the rice shortage as there are 225 million Japanese too as reasons for the shortage.

This is a situation that should have been known or predicted a long time ago and especially with global warming and the temperatures every summer in Japan getting hotter and hotter.

And then there is the idea of less farmers growing rice and young people not wanting to stay on the farms but want to move to the big metro cities for good jobs.

So this summer will be interesting as to what is going to happen with the rice supply. Will it be the same as last summer.

Have a nice day.

Japan Rice Prices: Updated April 26, 2025.

Rice prices in Japan continue to rise for 15 weeks in row despite release of gov't reserves

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250422/p2a/00m/0bu/008000c

Ideas:

There is just no good reason for rice prices to continue to increase after 15  weeks of the Japanese government releasing rice to improve rice supplies and drive down the costs of rice in the market.

There is got to be a breakdown somewhere in the market or supply chain that is causing prices to continue to remain high for Japanese households.

Most likely middlemen and or supermarkets are continuing to keep the price high as long as they can to get as much profit as they can at the peril of the Japanese consumer.

The Japanese government, for the good of society, needs to put price controls or limits on the price of rice to help the average Japanese household.

There is something in the system that is not right here as supplies should begin to get back to normal and something needs to be done to make sure supplies can be normal in the supermarkets again.

If adequate supplies have not reached store shelves, then the government needs to step up it monitoring of the supply of rice and find out what is really going on.

It sounds like, again, there is a breakdown in the supply chain as for some reason, the rice released by the Japanese government is not getting into the hands of the supermarkets for the good of society.

Again, there is something really wrong with this, as only 0.3% of released rice has reached supermarkets, as what has happened to the rest of the rice or where is the rest of the rice that was released.

It looks like maybe the wholesalers are trying to control the rice market for their own personal gain at the peril of both Japanese households and Japanese supermarkets. 

If this is just a slow moving supply chain situation, the Japanese government should step and find ways to improve the movement of the supply chains for the good of Japanese society.

The excuses given are not very good as using the busy end-of-fiscal year period is not a good excuse, as the market doesn't stop for end of year periods, and the same for using the shortage of trucks to move the rice and again, a shortage of trucks doesn't make the market stop and wait for more trucks and the same excuse about time required to polish large quantities of brown rices is again not a valid excuse when households are depending on the rice to live on.

This seems to be a major supply chain challenge as how many tons of released rice does it take for the market to get back to some kind of normalcy. Again something is not right with the Japanese rice market as there should never have happened in the first place.

And what happens in the summer if rice prices are not suppressed and continue to increase. Is the Japanese government going to release more rice. Are they going to investigate what is happening.

And then there is the idea of foreign rice in Japan. How many tons of foreign rice as been brought into Japan to help with the supply situation and is the foreign rice available in the Japanese supermarkets for Japanese households to buy.

Unfortunately, in a market system, everyone looks out for their own good. The rice growers look out for their own good.The middlemen look out for their own good. The supermarkets look out for their own good, and of course at the end of the supply chain the consumers too look out for their own good.

And the consumers get the short end of the stick as everyone before them just increases the price for their own good and when it gets to the consumer they have to pay a lot more that what was needed to grow the rice. And of course along the way, those in the supply chain take advantage of their position and just increase the price without thinking about the final retail customer at the end of the supply chain.

Have a nice day!

Japan Rice Prices: Updated April 15, 2025

Japan rice prices hit new high despite gov't countermeasures

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250414/p2g/00m/0bu/042000c

Ideas:
With all due respect, despite the Japanese government attempting to increase the supply of rice in the market someone or something is keeping the price high.

Usually whenever the supply of a product or staple increases the price will eventually decrease but that has not happened in this situation as the price of rice has not decreased and might even be increasing.

Most likely in this situation, rice wholesalers or middlemen might be keeping the price high to maximize the profits for as long as they can, and not really thinking about the good of society.

Most it not all agricultural products, such as vegetables, fruits, fish and some meat products are all auctioned off and then the products go to the middlemen and then to the supermarkets.

So the weak link might be in the supply chain related to the middlemen and even maybe some supermarkets too might be keeping the price high to try and maximize profits, despite the Japanese public wanting or needing lower prices.

When the supermarkets and middlemen, who might be keeping the price high begin to see that the majority of supermarkets have decreased the price, then all the supermarkets will do the same to not lose any sales.

An increase of 8 yen might just be an average as maybe some supermarkets might have increased the price even more and some maybe a little less. If rice is bought in large volumes that 8 yen increase could turn into a lot for the average Japanese family.

But then again, to be fair, it might not be the supermarkets only, as maybe it could be the middlemen deciding on the price as supermarkets have to take what is presented to them.

You would think that the Japanese supermarkets would have a conscious and maybe feel a little guilty keeping the price high, if its them, as they see customers everyday and maybe can see the pain or worry on their faces of their customers who have to pay the high prices for rice.

Unfortunately in the market place, such as the rice market, there are those who only think about themselves and not everyone for the good of society, as they too might be operating with very thin profit margins and have no choice but to keep the price high for as long as they can.

The wholesalers and retailers might want to lower the price to help their customers but again because of very thin profit margins they have no choice but to keep the price high as long as they can.

And as they see other retailers begin to finally begin to decrease the price they will do they same so that they won't lose customers or sales.

It's good that more rice will be or has been released into the market, but will it cause rice prices to go down. Maybe yes or maybe no, as with past experience over the past year, prices have not decreased when they should have according to normal supply and demand principles.

It seems rice products might be in sticky price situation, no pun intended, which means when a product is in a sticky price situation, normal supply and demand principles don't work or don't apply to this situation, as something or someone is keeping the price high.

If the supply of rice in 2023 was less than normal or less than expected why wasn't anything done about the supply situation as why it finally manifest itself in the summer of 2024 when there there was an outbreak of decreased supplies that made rice prices skyrocket.

This should have been more rice added to the rice market before the summer of 2024 so that the rice prices could have been normal as much as possible instead its been a constant stress on Japanese families and especially those families with children.

Maybe there was nothing the Japanese government could have done as unfortunately there are always poor growing seasons and poor harvest, but at the same time, maybe they could have prevented supply problem by using more foreign rice and or releasing their government rice supplies much sooner to prevent the shortage of the summer of 2024.

But then there was the potential earthquake warning in the summer of 2024, which caused many Japanese customers to run to the supermarkets and they tried to buy as much rice as possible which made the rice shortage even worse.

Have a nice day!

Japan Rice Shortage: Updated Feb. 21, 2025.

Japan to release 210,000 tons from rice reserves amid surging prices

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250214/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c

Commentary:

Rice, especially Japanese rice is a cultural icon and most Japanese people only want to eat Japanese rice while the Japanese government usually have high tariffs on foreign rice entering Japan.

At the same most likely many Japanese businesses use foreign rice when making rice dishes and of course the restaurants and supermarkets have to identify if they are using or selling foreign rice.

The so-called rice shortage of the summer of 2024 was unusual as the weather might have been a factor is the supply being less than normal.

At these same time, again, maybe the Japanese distribution system was/is a little slow in identifying when there are shortages and or not able to move reserves through the system quick enough to keep supplies adequate for Japanese consumers and Japanese businesses.

Not say anything bad, but this should have happened back in the summer of 2024 and that way there would be enough rice in the market for everyone before the Japanese government attempted to study the situation and then make as decision.

There should be checks in the system,when the level of supply gets too low, then either increase the supply of foreign rice and or releases the reserves that the Japanese government has ton hand and immediately move it into the market for use by Japanese consumers, as needed.

Japanese consumers should not have to wait for the Japanese government or red tape before they see enough supplies in the marketplace and there should never be supply shortage of any staple such as rice, bread, eggs,meat, and milk.

In Japan, like other major economies, there should be price controls on staples, again, such milk, eggs bread, rice and some meat as a way to keep the price normal for average consumers and that way they don't have to go without or choose one staple over the other.

Sometimes the Japanese government moves too slow, but that is government everywhere, globally, as when everyone in the summer of 2024 knew there was going to be a rice shortage, again, the Japanese government should have released the use of more foreign rice and or released the use of the reserves of rice the Japanese government had at the time, instead of waiting to see how it would play out in the marketplace.

Again, as rice is an important staple for Japanese consumers the Japanese government should always monitor the market and the supply levels and ensure there is enough of a supply to keep the price at a normal level for average Japanese consumers in the marketplace.

The sharp rice the number of tourists should not have caused a major rice shortage and maybe whomever is using foreign tourists as a scapegoat for the rice shortage and the government lack of keeping track of the rice shortage in 2023 and maybe the summer of 2024 too.

There are always going to be challenges with the growing season, as its a given now globally with global warming and extreme weather conditions. The Japanese government, and other governments, need to ensure the food supply is safe and there is adequate supplies available and not let supplies run low, again on food staples such as bread, rice, milk, potatoes, eggs, and some kinds of meat too. 

And again, no government should let a staple such as rice, get of of control related to prices and it significantly affects average consumers in any economy, as they should at least have temporary price controls to keep prices even and not get too high or even too low.

Unfortunately in Japan especially Japanese society is always on edge related to possible earthquakes, hurricanes/typhoons, and even tsunamis, and as such the advisory warning in August might have scared a lot of Japanese citizens and they might have resorted to hording of many kind of products including rice, which of course made the already supply shortage even worse.

And again, why did the farm ministry wait until February 2025 to release its stockpiled rice when the rice prices related to supply shortages had been very high since the summer of 2024, making it every difficult for the average Japanese consumer to buy rice.

Japan has been going through a lot of challenges since the pandemic hit and the challenges seem to keep happening with inflation causing a lot of challenges and then the rice supply shortages it even worse and then there is the weak Japanese yen, which causes all imports into Japan to be even more expensive than normal.

Why would the Japanese government need to buy back the same rice is sells to the cooperative if they are worried there might be more rice shortages in the future. 

There is should never be possibility of a price collapse or a sudden drop in prices, which might be related to a over-supply in the market, 

There is always the global rice market to consider and maybe for example, as has been suggested in other articles that Taiwan has been producing Japanese rice with the help of scientists to duplicate the kind of Japanese rice that Japanese like and prefer.

If its true the rice made in Taiwan should be an easy replacement for rice supplies in Japan, when there are possible prices shortages so that average Japanese consumers don't have to pay significantly high prices for a normal staple in Japan.

Have a nice day!