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 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!

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!