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A worker Met Konbu Sea Weed on the rice on the Riceball production chain at the Fuji Foods Co. processing plant in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan, Friday January 26, 2024. Rice balls are one of the 7 most important products in Japan, with more than $ 2 billion each year. Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty images
After months of increasing rice prices, Japanese consumers can finally obtain a certain relief.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture of Japan revealed that the average price of a five kg rice bag had fallen to 3,920 yen ($ 27.03) for the week ending on June 15, which marked the first time that Rice had fallen below the 4,000 -year brand since the week that ended on March 2.
It was also the first time that rice prices have appeared in the objective set by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
In May, Ishiba promised to lower prices, saying that he thought that “rice prices should be in the range of 3,000 Yons, because staying in the range of 4,000 yons cannot be right”. Ishiba would also have told the opposition legislators he would take personal responsibility of the question.
Rice was a warm subject in Japan, with prices and shortages that led to empty shelves in supermarkets across the country.
Molder comments on rice even had costs a minister his job. The former Minister of the Japan farm, Taku Eto, resigned in May, following the public’s indignation in the face of his comments on obtaining the free rice from the partisans.
The increase [in rice prices] was very drastic this year, perhaps from March to April. So just a few months ago, they increased every day, perhaps a few hundred yen, every day.
Rice prices in Japan increased sharply in the second half of 2024 – on the back of the poor harvests in 2023 and a Disproportionate demand for tourists – and accelerated further in the first half of this year.
Yoichi Ryu, a 26 -year -old Tokyo resident, told CNBC on Friday that rice prices point was austere.
He said that an ice bag of five kilos cost around 1800 yen at 2,000 yen two years ago, but prices have more than doubled between 4,500 and 5,000 yen.
“The increase was very drastic this year, perhaps from March to April. So a few months ago, they increased every day, perhaps a few hundred yen, every day,” he added.
Government data revealed that Rice prices had more than doubled in May, Floads 101.7% and marking the highest increase of more than half a century.
Blowing of the shortage, but unevenly
However, it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the shortage of rice in Japan. In addition to the release of Rice Reserves Government, the retailers offered rice imported from overseas, such as the United States and South Korea.
Aeon supermarket started to sell original rice in California on June 6Saying that the decision was made in the middle of interior rice supplies in Japan.
In April, Japan imported South Korea rice for the first time since 1999, Bloomberg said. The South Korean food export company The O Global would also have signed an agreement in May to export 200 tonnes of South Korean rice to help mitigate the Japan supply shortage.
The contract represents the largest volume of rice ever exported by a private South Korean company for general consumer sales in Japan, Korea Times reported.
In response to CNBC queries, the National Supermarket Association of Japan said that the shortage in Japan seems to be ensuring “thanks to the release of government rice stocks”.
But the recovery of the supply was uneven, the shortage of persistent rice in certain places. Roy Larke, Japan trade professor at the Intelligence Company based in Tokyo, Japanconsulting.com, told CNBC that some supermarkets around Tokyo still have empty rice displays, but they are small stores.
He added that “some channels do not seem to have a problem and that some regional stores have rice.”
Yoichi said, “I recently remember, I went to [the] Supermarket to buy rice to restock, but I couldn’t buy them because they were not there, but their price labels were always present. “”
Prices remain high in the midst of quality concerns
Although rice make a return, the prices remain high. The National Supermarket Association said that there was “no stock of rice at a reasonable price”. Many stores seem to have unsold high rice at high prices, he added.
Larke underlined that there can be other reasons for this, noting that “a month from the government which publishes stocks, the prices of brand rice have only been starting to dive and, it seems currently, that slightly so far.”
When the Japanese government has published its emergency stocks, it had sold rice directly to retailers, aim to bring these actions to consumers to 2,000 yen per bag.
“The fact that the prices of wholesale and branded rice have taken a month to start decreasing and are still above the government’s objective [of 2,000 yen per 5kg bag] suggests that it can be more than just supply and demand, “said Larke.
Many consumers fear that stored rice will be old and not as tasty, he added.
Yoichi has echoed the same feeling, saying that the government’s stock of cereals is of best quality compared to newly harvested rice stocks.
In Japan, newly harvested rice is marketed in the form of “Shinmai”, literally new rice, and is perceived as a better taste. There is even a legal requirement This only rice packed on December 31 of the same year is authorized to be labeled as “Shinmai”.
After harvesting the following year, the current harvest will be known as “Komai” or old rice. Government reserves come from older cultures and terms like “Kicks everything” (Literally, old old rice) are used to describe culture 2021.
Declarations of heads of the Central Bank of Japan said they had an eye on rice prices, such net increases should facilitate in the future.
The governor of Boj, Kazuo Ueda, said at a press conference after the central bank’s June meeting that “when we examine recent data, consumer inflation is evolving around 3%. But this is mainly due to the rise in import costs and rice prices … We expect these pressures to dissipate” Comments translated by Reuters.
