Japan firms boost rice imports amid jump in domestic price
Japanese companies are ramping up rice imports as high prices for domestic grain make the overseas product competitive even with a heavy tariff.
Japan's government imports about 770,000 tons of tariff-free rice every year under a system called "minimum access."
However, direct imports by the private-sector face a levy of 341 yen, or more than two dollars, per kilogram.
Despite this, corporate imports in April surged to 6,800 tons, or more than double the amount in all of fiscal 2024. And imports last year were the highest in 26 years.
US rice accounted for about 80 percent of the April figure.
A 5-kilogram bag of California rice sells for about 3,500 yen, or 24 dollars, on store shelves in Japan.
In comparison, the average retail price of domestic rice in the week through June 8th was around 4,100 yen, or 29 dollars.
That's still higher than imports even after the government sold rice from stockpiles to nudge prices lower.
Inagaki Kimio, Research Fellow of Mitsubishi Research Institute, says it's a distorted situation when imported rice with tariffs is cheaper than the domestic crop.
"It's most abnormal that domestic rice has become more expensive when the tariffs were introduced in order to make imported rice too expensive to buy," he said.
The rice policy analyst says the 2025 harvest in Japan won't be enough to refill government rice stockpiles, while also meeting general public demand.
He says the government needs to incentivize farmers to increase the rice crop through the 2026 harvest to stabilize prices.
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