Japan to release 200,000 more tons of emergency rice to curb prices

Tokyo: Japan will release another 200,000 metric tons of rice from its emergency stockpile to tackle a doubling of prices since last year, Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Tuesday.

Of the new release, 100,000 tons of 2021 crop year rice will be sold first, to retailers of all sizes and local rice sellers with sufficient milling capacity, he said. The rest will follow from the 2020 crop year.

Why its important

Soaring rice prices have become a major concern for consumers and policymakers ahead of key elections in Tokyo and nationwide. Consumers have been forming long queues to buy the 5 kg bags of stockpiled rice priced at 2,000 yen ($13.82) since they began hitting store shelves in the past week and a half.

Key quotes

"We want to continue responding without slowing down so that the stockpiled rice can reach consumers quickly and at a low cost," Koizumi said during a press conference.

"We must never allow the virtuous cycle of prices and wages in the Japanese economy as a whole to break down. If the cause lies with rice, then I believe we must address such issues promptly."

By the numbers

Japan has so far released about 600,000 tons of rice from its roughly 900,000-ton emergency stockpile since March. About half of that was sold directly to retailers just in the past two weeks under Koizumi's new distribution policy.

Data on Monday showed average supermarket rice prices dropped for the second straight week, to 4,223 yen per 5 kg in the seven days to June 1, down 37 yen.

What's next

Koizumi has signalled readiness to release the entire emergency rice stockpile and utilise imports if necessary to stabilise prices until the new harvest arrives in August. Further price trends and policy measures will be closely watched as Japan heads into the elections in the coming weeks.