Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Koizumi Shinjiro, announced a plan to release an additional 200,000 tons of rice from emergency reserves in response to rice prices doubling since last year. The release will include 100,000 tons from the 2021 stock, which will be sold to retailers and local rice vendors with sufficient milling capabilities. The remaining rice will come from the 2020 crop year.
Koizumi emphasized the importance of quickly delivering rice to consumers at lower costs to maintain economic stability. He stressed the need to address any disruptions in the positive cycle of prices and wages, particularly if rice is a contributing factor.
Since March, Japan has already released approximately 600,000 tons of rice from its 900,000-ton emergency reserves. Under Koizumi's new policy, about half of this amount has been sold directly to retailers in the past two weeks.
Recent data showed a second consecutive weekly decline in rice prices at Japanese supermarkets, with the average price per 5 kilograms dropping by 37 yen to 4,223 yen.
